


More Than He Bargained For

by NoGoodTuna



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst with a Happy Ending, Art Student Tsukishima Kei, Love Confessions, Love at First Sight, M/M, Romantic Comedy, Strangers to Lovers, Writing Student Hinata Shouyou
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:49:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21638380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoGoodTuna/pseuds/NoGoodTuna
Summary: Tsukishima's day is ruined when Hinata accidentally trips and falls bringing food down on his sketchbook.Tsukishima is livid and threatens to report him unless he agrees to serve as his art subject, model, and inspiration for the foreseeable future.What starts out as a simple request suddenly becomes more than Tsukishima bargained for...
Relationships: Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou, Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei, Kageyama Tobio/Volleyball, Kuroo Tetsurou & Tsukishima Kei, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 115
Collections: Tsukihina Week 2019





	1. Making-Up

Tsukishima navigated the throngs of other college freshman who milled about the cafeteria as he made his way towards his favorite place to sit--a little alcove away from the obnoxious voices, aggravating shouts, and irritating laughter from his peers. Here, he could have the peace and quiet he so desired to eat and draw.

Within moments his quiet was disturbed by the people he despised--the ones that were rambunctious, loud, and acted like they owned the place. Aggravated, he glared at them with a fierceness that would have driven any child or pet away. In their own world, they didn't look at him at all. Instead, they continued acting a fool--throwing fruits, cookies, and candy at each other as if they were kids in grade school.

Balking from such foolishness he couldn't help but think that they weren't even college kids. One of the them, a really short boy sporting a youthful smile, bright orange glasses, plastic rimmed even, made him wonder if he were in middle school, no, maybe even elementary school--he couldn’t quite pin it. His raven-haired friend beside him however looked like a high schooler or maybe an incoming college freshman. Unlike the orange-haired _shortstuff,_ he was as imposing as the many sports players that perused the cafeteria’s resources. His broad shoulders, muscular figure, and general aura just screamed _ace sports player_. Though unlike the sports players who had some dignity, he acted just as immature as his friend. What a bother.

Tsukishima fell distracted from his thoughts as he swatted an orange thrown his way. As it bounced on the table and then the ground he scowled at the annoying duo. 

Falling under that scowl, the sporty one pushed the orange-haired _shortstuff_ forward.

The kid looked utterly betrayed as he struggled to regain his footing. When he did, however, he found himself looking Tsukishima in the eye. As if he saw something in it, he offered him an apologetic smile before he raced to pick the orange up and scurried back to his friend, though not before he gave Tsukishima another smile.

Confronted with such a smile, Tsukishima almost smiled back, but, as the kid stuck his tongue out at his friend and threw that orange at him at point blank range, he rolled his eyes. Annoyed at the foolishness of it all, Tsukishima shook his head, and then minded his own business. Tired of the noise, he turned the volume up and focused on his workspace. 

A glass of tropical punch sat on one corner while a napkin with a half-eaten chocolate cookie sat on another. Covering the rest of the table was his massive sketchbook, open to a page with the theme of his current assignment _First Day of School._

As he stared, he leaned, balancing himself on two of the chairs four legs. He wracked his brain for any sort of idea as he tuned out his surroundings. Thoughts of everything that the first day of school prompt encompassed flitted through his mind, but none of them, whether it be new books or classes or school clubs and other extracurricular activities, gave him the eagerness, desire, and excitement that he needed to fill the blank page with artwork.

In high school, he never found it hard or difficult to express himself through art. His supportive teachers, his best friend, and his volleyball teammates, always inspired or urged him to put his pen to the paper and draw whatever came to mind. They never limited him or confined him to routine and uninspired prompts. Rather, they displayed a keen and genuine interest in his hobby and urged him to surprise them, excite them, and delight them with his drawings. Their smiles, their grimaces, their praise, their criticisms, essentially the whole spectrum of emotions, fueled his creativity and helped him hone his trait to the point that he put his all into drawing.

The memory of all the people that supported his journey through high school to his matriculation to a prestigious art school had him firmly planting his feet on the floor, resituating himself in his chair, and gripping his pencil in earnest. He quickly turned up the volume and got in the zone.

His hand moved in tune with the music as he covered the page with lines, dark and light, thin and wide, short and long. Where the page was blank before, it was soon covered with a child, dreaming, as he slept on a desk at school. In the _dream bubble_ over his head, bodies of his friends and family, slowly manifested as Tsukishima drew more furiously than ever before. Captivated by his own work, he put pencil to paper as he poured his heart and soul into bringing his mental image to life.

As more lines were added to the page, the sketches soon took a more defined shape. They eventually became drawings of the people who’d inspired him back in grade school. They were always on his mind on the many _first days of school_ in the past and always gave him the push he needed to succeed.

After a few more moments he placed the pencil neatly on the page and stared at his work. The people, the expression on their faces, the subtlety with their body language, conveyed encouragement, inspiration, and support. It very nearly brought a tear to his eye, however, slices of an orange, chunks of strawberries, crumbles of cookies bounced on his sketchbook before hitting the window beside him. As he turned his head towards where they came, a glass of soda came flying towards him.

He tried to cover his work and protect it from the drink, but he was too slow. It landed on his sketchbook and sizzled and fizzled as it spread, coating all that Tsukishima sketched and then some. 

“Ugh no, no, no!” The orange-haired kid dropped the tray he held as he scrambled towards Tsukishima. “S’uh, sorry. So sorry!” With shaking and shivering hands, he grabbed napkins from a dispenser on the table. “I totally didn’t mean it. Really, I didn’t. Look I’ll clean this up right away. Okay.” He quickly moved his hands around and around as he tried to soak up as much of the soda as possible. He did more harm than good as the wet and mushy pages scrunched up, balled up, and ripped totally and completely. It was a mess and sent him into a panic infused apology spiel.

“You idiot, what do you think you’re doing?!” Tsukishima finally snapped out of his shock and grabbed the boy’s wrists. “Can’t you see you’re making it worst?”

“I didn’t. I didn’t mean to do that. It just happened, you saw it didn’t you?" Tears welled in the kids hazelnut eyes as he pouted. "It wasn’t like I was trying to ruin it. I was just trying to fix it. Trust me, I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't so, you don't need to get mad at me."

“Hah?!” Tsukishima flung the kid’s arms away. “I don’t need to get mad? Really, I don’t need to get mad? The one whose stuff you ruined doesn’t need to get mad? Are you kidding me, kid?”

“I told you, I didn't mean for this to happen. I was just trying to take my tray to the washers.” Shortstuff met Tsukishima’s gaze and backed away. It was too piercing, too intense, and too heated for him to handle. He was terrified and frightened. “I-I-I-I, I’m totally sorry about it. Really, I am. Like it was just an accident.”

“In what way was this an _accident?_ ” Tsukishima pointed at his soggy sketchbook. Pages with some of his best creations were ruined and damaged, probably to the point that they were unrecognizable and unsalvageable.

“Because it just was, if Kageyama hadn't made a mess of things.” The kid’s gaze fell to the floor. An assortment of the fruits and berries from their little food fight earlier was smear against the carpet. It led towards Tsukishima’s table. “People slip and fall all the time. They just can’t help it if they happen to trip and spill something. No hard feelings, okay?”

“No hard feelings, okay? It was only a little accident? You know? Teehee. These things happen. Teehee. Let me go my way, I apologized for ruining someone’s work and even though it’s still ruined, I apologized and now feel good about my life. Happy happy, joy joy.” Tsukishima mocked in an exaggerated happy tone that left the kid cringing.

Tsukishima ignored the kid's squeamishness as he spoke from the heart. “This book, the sketches inside of it, the time, the energy, and the heart I placed into each and every drawing…screw apologies, screw hard feelings, screw accidents, I don’t care about any of that. None of that will bring any of this back.” Tears of anger and sadness fell from his eyes as he looked at the kid.

“I know it won't and I'm sorry.” Shortstuff dropped all pretense as he looked him in the eye and offered his hand. However, he pulled it back when Tsukishima glared. Even with puffy red eyes he still looked as fierce as ever. “Trust me, I didn't mean for this to happen so just accept my apology and know this won't ever happen again. So, if that's fine and all, I'mma just go and see you next time?”

“You think you can just leave after ruining my life?”

"Yeah, I apologized and tried to clean it up but you didn't want me to." Shortstuff scratched his head. “What else can I do?”

“Make it up to me.”

“What?” He flinched and stared as if Tsukishima had sprouted a second head.

Tsukishima spoke coldly. “You will help me fill each and every single page of my new sketchbook.” The fresh tears coating his face and the redness around his eyes made him look deathly serious.

“But I can’t draw or anything,” Hinata mumbled as he averted his eyes. “You’ll have to find someone else. I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”

“Who said you’ll be drawing?” Tsukishima asked rhetorically. “You’ll be my subject, my prop, my model, my _whatever_ until my sketchbook is full. You’re indebted to me.” He meant each and every word as he approached the kid, staring down at him as he was a bug beneath his feet.

“No, no, no, no no!” The kid waved his hands in hasty denial. “Why would I do that? I only spilled some soda on your book. I’m sure once it dries-”

Tsukishima held his hand out and silenced him. “Kid, most of the pages are bunched up and torn and any that weren't are soggy and unrecognizable. When I go in for my portfolio review at the end of the semester, I can’t just turn up empty handed, smile, and hand them a note with your _lame_ excuse written on it. I’ll not only be the laughingstock of the department but of the school too and you know how they are about our portfolios. They're going to kick me out.”

“But-”

“No _buts._ I hold all the cards here kid so I don't want to hear it. Show up where I tell you, when I tell you.”

“What, but I have my own-”

“Cry me a river. You should have thought about that before you decided to fool around like you were at a playground. Look.” Tsukishima quickly took his phone out. “Gimme your name, number, and your parent’s number. I can’t have some middle schooler going off missing without them noticing. Guess I’ll have to tell them I’m going to tutor you or something to get them off my back.” 

“Wait, wait, wait, I’m not a middle schooler. I’m a senior.” Shortstuff spoke as if getting his personal details straight was more important than the deal he unwillingly agreed too.

“High schooler?” Tsukishima stared over the rim of his glasses and nodded. “Doesn't change a thing. I'm still gonna need your parent’s number.”

“No, you jerk, in college, here, _gosh_." The kid groaned almost as if being mistaken for a grade-schooler was a common occurrence. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

“Color me surprised, and here I thought you were some kid.” Watching the _shortstuff_ grow agitated did help take some of the bite away.

“I have a name, you know.”

Tsukishima chuckled derisively. “Do I look like I care?”

“I’m older than you!”

“Fine Shortstuff- _sempai_ , happy? Now give me your number.”

“My name's Hinata, Hinata Shouyou,” he spoke with an edge to his voice. “And I’m not giving you my number or anything. I don’t agree to this at all.”

“You want me to tell your dean? Not only will they be delighted to know that you broke the honor code in such a foolish way, but I’m sure your parents will be thrilled knowing that their wonderful son was messing around when he should have been studying.”

Hinata flinched as if thoughts of having to see and hear how disappointed his parents would be rocked his world. Scared, he grumbled something or another, before he reluctantly yanked his cell phone out and beamed his contact info over.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Hinata's fear faded as Tsukishima snickered.

“Changing your name, of course.”

Hinata rolled his eyes. “That’s uncalled for. I agreed to your demands, the least you could do is call me by my name.”

“Nah, you’ll get used to it in no time.” Tsukishima fanned his hands as if he were brushing the issue aside. “Trust me Shortstuff. It always happens.”

“Always?”

Tsukishima was silent as he typed a message in his phone.

“Fine, if you want to play it that way, then I’ll just call you Tsukki. Tsukki like a cookie.” Hinata spoke like a petulant child and crossed his arms. He looked away in defiance, however, he did keep Tsukishima in the corner of his eye.

Tsukishima stared up from his phone and squinted in confusion. “Uhm what? How do they sound the same?”

“They just do.”

Tsukishima groaned as he realized he was falling into the kids trap. Unwilling to mess around he waved him away. “Now that we’ve got this situation handled, just shoo, go away, and leave me alone. I’m sure some kid somewhere would enjoy talking to you or playing with you until you fall exhausted. Go and bond with them over that kiddie cell phone cover and that matching toy monster you have on it. You like toys right? Enjoy.”

Hinata rolled his eyes as he brought the cell phone closer to him as if he took pride in it. He ignored the jab however as he spoke with the same tone Tsukishima used on him. “Why would I go away? Before, you wanted me to stay, now you want me to go? Make up your mind, Tsukki.”

“Hah?!” Tsukishima stared at Hinata with annoyance. “We are not doing this, go, go on, your friend is waiting.”

“And, he can wait longer.” Hinata stood rigid and tall. “I’m going to stay here. It’s what you wanted.”

“Shortstuff go away please.”

“No, not until you call me by my name, _Tsukki._ ” 

Tsukishima facepalmed as he wondered if he truly made a deal with the devil. If he knew the kid was going to be this annoying, this aggravating, and this obnoxious, then he wouldn’t have suggested anything at all. Heck, he would have just accepted the worthless apology and left. No, not that he would. With his sketchbook ruined, he needed to quickly redo all of his drawing assignments, and that was on top of the assignments that would be assigned in the future. Having the _shortstuff_ available as a model would help immensely with many steps of the creation process.


	2. You got it all wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata misunderstands things at the worst possible time.

Tsukishima struggled to keep himself together as he watched Hinata Shouyou, or rather, _shortstuff,_ have a _helluva_ moment at the bicycle rack. He drew a crowd as he growled and groaned with his lock as if he was waging war. That war was short-lived as Hinata soon proved triumphant. Fistpumping and bouncing about, he was caught off guard when his rucksack swung around and popped him across his face, knocking his glasses to the ground. Plastic-rimmed like a little kid's, they clattered and bounced until stopping in front of a bystander.

As that bystander handed the kid his glasses, Tsukishima could only shake his head and look away as he wondered how he got involved with someone as goofy as him. Clumsy too, he realized, as he didn't need to see him to know that the kid's sudden cry _slash_ giggle was a sign that he'd tripped on a crack, no, probably his own feet in those tiny orange flip flops he wore. 

What might have made anyone groan in annoyance made the kid beam brightly and brilliantly as if he were having one of the best days of his little life. This almost blinding glow of positivity and happiness worked in concert with his appearance--a bright orange baseball cap with a smiling dinosaur on it, an orange tank top with a penguin saying some kiddie joke on it _,_ and an orange rucksack with a big ole happy face emoji on it. It was like his entire purpose in life was to be as radiant as ever as he brought laughter and happiness to the entire world.

Tsukishima looked away as he felt the slightest inclination or urge to smile as the _shortstuff_ waved and grinned as if they were the best of friends. It was hard to remain as straight-faced and tight-lipped as he wanted to be considering the basis of their interaction, their working relationship, was formed around his destroyed sketchbook.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to come this late.” Hinata placed a hand on Tsukishima’s arm as if they were the best of friends.

Tsukishima slid away as memories of the _kid's_ hands destroying many of his sketches came to mind. 

Unfazed, Hinata spoke as if everything was _honky-dory._ “You wouldn’t believe what happened, like-”

“I don’t need your entire life story.” Tsukishima put some distance between them. “You’re supposed to be where I tell when I tell you, not a moment late. Don’t let it happen again or else.” He entered the building leaving him at the door.

“I know, I know. You don’t gotta remind me.” Hinata groaned as he rushed to his side. “But enough of that, I’m telling you the wildest thing happened. Like the _coolest most unbelievablest thing_ -” the thought was left incomplete as he fell silent and sniffed, not once, not twice, but thrice. As if a taste was in the air, he licked his lips and smacked them as if he had the most delicious of meals. Wanting to eat, he looked at Tsukishima with pleading in his eyes. “Oh my god, you didn't tell me there was going to be popcorn today. If I knew, I would have been here sooner. Can we get some, please, Tsukki?”

“No,” Tsukishima said as he stomped off. “We have things we need to do—things that we should have already started if you had got here on time.”

“Aw _shucks_ no way. I’m sure just taking a _pre-art_ or _pre-drawing_ break, is that what you call it, would be fine? Can’t draw or whatever on an empty stomach, right?”

Tsukishima resisted the urge to agree as he kept walking.

“Where are you going? The popcorn machine is this way.” Hinata grabbed his wrist and pulled him in the complete opposite direction. “We can't go upstairs on an empty stomach.”

Tsukishima cocked his head and glared. “We can.”

“No we can't especially when the popcorn will go to waste if we don't get get a carton or two."

“It's not going to waste since college kids love free food.” Tsukishima regained control and tugged the _kid_ back from whence they came. “Whatever we don't get will go to someone else.”

"You don't know that." Hinata yanked Tsukishima back towards the popcorn machine. "So we might as well get some while we're here."

“Kid I'm the one that lives here, I know what they do and do not do with the popcorn and ugh.” Tsukishima groaned as Hinata just about retorted. “Look this isn’t something I want to argue over, can’t you just drop it or something, we’re not getting popcorn and that’s final.” Tsukishima stated as he finally dug his heels in the floor, stopping them in the center of the hallway.

“Gosh, you don’t have to get mad about it.” Hinata said as if offended. “It was just a suggestion to to fix that grumpy attitude of yours. If you don't want any then fine, but it will do you some good." He pulled Tsukishima all the way up to the popcorn machine. 

“I wouldn’t have a grumpy attitude if you weren’t so pesky and annoying.” Tsukishima spoke out of the side of his mouth as he wondered how he let this _kid_ just run all over him like this. Try as he might nothing he did rebuffed the _kids_ attempts.

“Hey, what’d you get all silent for, I thought you’d do your usual thing?” Hinata handed him a carton of popcorn. “You know where you throw a _hissy-fit_ and haw and hee like a disgruntled horse.”

Tsukishima felt like a headache was coming on as he listened to the kid spout off at the mouth.

“See, it’s probably because of the popcorn that you finally calmed down. I told you it’d do it. I’m never wrong about my snacks and I wasn’t wrong about this one." Hinata grinned smugly. "It’s just as good as I expected, no, even better. It just makes me feel all warm and happy inside? You know? Try it. Try it. Hurry before it gets cold!” 

Realizing he wouldn't shut up until he tried it, Tsukishima grabbed a handful of popcorn and ate.

Hinata hummed in pleasure and joy as he rubbed his cheeks as if the taste was utterly divine. Though, that feeling was short lived as his eyes widened as if he got a totally awesome idea. “Hey, hey, hey, wanna see something cool?”

Had it it not been for that warm buttery popcorn warming his spirits he might have said no, but now he found himself wondering if he should entertain his _senpai's_ whims. How his eyes sparkled with anticipation and twinkled with amusement reflected a certain jovial fun-loving spirit that he shouldn't restrain. Compelled to see what such a spirit had in mind he almost agreed, but he remembered that he was the one in control of this relationship, not him, and he couldn't let him run all over him like he did earlier. “Absolutely not, we’ve already wasted enough time as it is.”

“Well, I’m gonna do it anyway because its fun and you look like you really need more fun in life." How Hinata spoke as if he already made up his mind left Tsukishima wanting to tug his hair out. What was the point of asking if he was going to run over him anyway?

"How about this? Throw popcorn and see if I can catch it with my mouth, here!” Hinata thrust his popcorn carton against his chest and smiled at him as if it was all he needed to convince him to participate.

Tsukishima stared at him as if he lost his mind. He didn’t want to be an accessory to this ridiculousness.

As they stood in the middle of the foyer, neither moving, several students stopped and stared. Not used to such attention, Tsukishima grew self-conscious. Having their eyes all over him made him shiver and squirm. He could very well imagine they were peering into his soul and wondering if he would cater to the whims of the _kid_ in front of him. Thinking that they would spread rumors that he was a jerk if he ignored him, he gave in to the kids whims begrudgingly. He couldn't let something like this ruin the peaceful and lowkey college career he set upon.

“Whoa you're gonna do it after all Tsukki?” Hinata happily let him have the cartoon. "Gimme your best. Bet’cha I can get it!” 

Soft chuckles and giggles erupted around them as many of the people who’d only interacted with Tsukishima in passing received new insight into his character. Hearing him referred to with a cute nickname made them smile.

“Tsukki!” Hinata feigned aggravation as he repeated his name pulling him out of his headspace. “I'm ready, I'm ready. Come on _Tsukki_. I'm ready. I wanna make you smile.”

“I’m not going to smile, but I will go along with your foolishness if only to get out of this suffocating atmosphere.” He glanced at the spectators with annoyance before he turned those same eyes on Hinata. “Hurry up now, open up.” Tsukishima grabbed a handful of popcorn.

“Yay!” Hinata chirped merrily and happily as if he’d only heard a fraction of what Tsukishima said. He tilted his head back and opened his mouth big and wide. “Ready, I’m ready for you. I’m waiting. Get it right here. Right here.” He pointed to himself and giggled.

Tsukishima didn't know if he should be embarrassed or impressed at how serious Hinata was about this. It was as if he put his all into trying to catch some popcorn with his mouth as if it were some incredible feat that would prove something. If this energy and focus was directed toward something else, something scholarly, perhaps then it would be commendable, but for something like this, it was childish and foolish. Wanting to get it over with, he tossed the popcorn, one by one.

“Watch me!” Hinata bounced and jumped around snapping a few of them up. However, he quickly whined and winced as a few pelted him on the nose, the eye, and the forehead. “Aw no fair Tsukki. You threw them all over the place!” He pouted as he walked up to him. “And you didn’t smile! I thought for sure that’d work. Maybe I need to up my skills.” He scratched his head as he frowned. “No worry, I bet I can do something else later! Popcorn was still good anyway.”

“I’m telling you, I don’t need to smile or anything. I’m just fine, now come on.” Tsukishima led them further into the dorm.

“Oh cool, it’s all coming back to me!” Hinata smiled as he observed his surroundings. “I thought you were joking when you said you lived here, but wow, you weren’t.”

“What?”

“I lived here during my freshman year too. It was so fun! And if the popcorn is anything to go by, it seems this place is still just as fun as it was back then.”

“You thought-”

“Hey, that’s one rad poster.” Hinata interrupted as he stared at a poster of his favorite _knuckle-headed ninja_ on a resident’s door _._ “I have a poster just like that too, it’s so cool. Oh, oh, oh, I remember when I had it on my door. Everyone used to be so jealous of me. I bet you’re all jealous of him, aren’t you?”

Tsukishima tuned him out as he wondered if he had an off-switch or at least a volume dial somewhere as he couldn’t keep quiet for nothing. It was like any and everything they passed on their trip up to the room had to be pointed at, laughed at, or shouted at. Though what made it worst was that many of the people who lived there, the residents, were keenly interested in catering to his whims.

“Ah, I love that game, lemme play, lemme play!” Hinata begged as he peeked into a room. The residents inside, people Tsukishima only saw in passing, looked ready to invite them inside and extend them a controller. However, Tsukishima quickly apologized and tugged Hinata away.

“Look _kid_ , mind your own business and get a move on. You can’t walk into people's rooms like that. It's a nuisance, a bother, and I know what you’re going to say, just cause they offered afterwards doesn’t mean we can waste the day away playing games and getting ourselves distracted with silly videogames and what not. I need to get my artwork done now, so let’s just go. No more distractions.”

“Come on, a little fun won’t hurt now and then. With such fun people around, you’re doing yourself a _dish service_ by ignoring them. They actually wanted to play with us, you know. We should turn around and play with them, and I don’t mean all day long, but maybe a game or two. It wouldn’t hurt would it?” Hinata begged as he looked up at him with pleading in his eyes.

Tsukishima was taken aback for a moment as he couldn’t believe the guy was not only his _senpai_ , but older than him. In some ways he wondered if he was actually his age or less. With that smile, that brightness, and that youthfulness it was hard to ignore him. Still he was on a mission to get his artwork done and he wouldn’t be persuaded by a smile.

“No, I’m not doing myself a _dish service,_ whatever that means. You’re doing us a _disservice_ by making this more than what it is. This is strictly a working relationship where I hold all the cards, not you. So come on and get a move on, so I can get you out of my hair—the sooner the better.” 

“Ah, I see, I see. So you’re the type person who’s all _I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to get things done_ aren’t you?” Hinata followed with a bounce in his step. “I bet that explains why you don’t have any friends, doesn’t it?”

Tsukishima turned around and glared with a fury beyond all fury.

“Hah, I was right. I know that look! One of my friends, Kageyama, has that same look, it’s why I’m like his only friend. He drives everyone away cause he’s all work and no play. I told him if he keeps saying that, it will drive people away and look what happened, it drove everyone away. Well except me, but that’s because I grew up with him.” Hinata chuckled as they passed the common room. The room fell silent as people turned and stared at him. He waved at them before he bumped into Tsukishima. “Ooof, what’d you stop here for?”

“Do you ever just shut-up?” Tsukishima cocked his head. “Do you?”

“And why would I do that?” Hinata cocked his head as well. “I’m _in depthed_ to you aren’t I, so I might as well make the most of this situation, especially if I’m gonna be your nude model and all. This is already going to be awkward as heck, so the least we could do is try to be cordial, or at least friendly, you know?”

“Y-y-you have the wrong idea, you idiot.” Tsukishima’s face flared red as everyone stared at him with disdain and disgust. Soft whispering and murmuring unsettled him as he tried to save face. “We are not doing whatever it is that you have in mind. Come on!”

“What? How do I have the wrong idea?" Hinata didn’t move as he raised his voice, matching Tsukishima's volume. "I’m just repeating what you told me yesterday. Did you forget that you were going to fill your sketchbook with drawings of me?”

Tsukishima’s face paled as he felt everyone’s eyes boring holes into him. He couldn’t feel any smaller, vulnerable, and misunderstood than he did now. Unable to comprehend it all he was silent as he realized the situation was going to get worst.

“I thought nothing of it at first, but when I got home, Kageyama and I looked up what you meant, and we both had to slam the computer screen. We just sat there blushing unable to look at each other. Just picturing a guy drawing another guy while they were stark naked was just…yeah. But you know, the longer I thought about it, the more I realized it was a good thing. I started to see that behind how awkward and weird it would be to sit naked in front of someone I didn’t even know that well…” Hinata knitted his hands together and started rocking on the balls of his feet. His voice grew much softer and sincere as he flashed his eyes briefly at Tsukishima before back at the his wiggling toes. “But considering you picked me out of everyone in the entire college to draw...it just makes a guy like me feel, you know, really, really, really special.” The slightest wisp of happiness lurked behind all the unease and shame he felt putting himself out there like.

An awkward and stifling silence hung in the air as everyone privy to the conversation gasped in shock while they watched the poor _kid,_ in their eyes, humiliate himself as he stood before the one resident who they’d never got a grasp on. To them he was now seen as some predator out to use the poor guy for his own perverse ways and they needed to stop him. With a huge uproar, some rose to their feet while others jumped over the edge of the sofa to pry the two away from each other.

The noise and commotion didn’t go unmissed by Tsukishima, who, in a moment quickly grabbed Hinata’s wrist and tugged him forward. “Look _shortstuff_ , you couldn’t be anymore wrong if you tried. We are not doing any sort of weird or perverse things. You are going to put on a costume or two and let me draw you, that’s it. Nothing less and nothing more.”

“Costume?” Hinata stared up at him with confusion, though it quickly faded into realization as his blush deepened. “You mean ones that, you know, accentuate my features, like, you know, _down there_.” So innocent, Hinata could barely say the words as his voice cracked.

Tsukishima wanted to face-palm but couldn’t as he was pelted with snacks, nerf darts, and a textbook or two. “Will you all go back and mind your own business. This is for my art assignment. My art assignment! And this guy is a senpai, an upperclassman, whose just really, really dumb!”

“I am not dumb.” Hinata said meekly. “You’re the one being secretive and unclear, leading me on wrong.”

“I am not leading you on wrong, you’re the one misinterpreting everything I said and making it sound like I’m some pervy horndog.”

“What else am I supposed to say when all the images online of someone being an art subject were of the artist drawing them in their _Birthday Suit_.”

“And that is why you don’t trust the internet!” Tsukishima blurted as he grew flustered. “Didn’t you learn anything in your classes, didn’t you?” Tsukishima turned around for a moment or two before he looked forward and dove into the elevator that thankfully was open as two residents came out. He mashed the _doors closed_ button before the mass of students and the thrown objects that followed could reach him. As it closed just before it reached them, he sighed in relief. “Look, we are not doing any perverted drawings _today_ , so calm down.” He stared at the kid, or rather, the _senpai_ who was biting his lips in thought. He wore a faint, almost imperceptible, blush that occasionally darkened whenever he looked at Tsukishima. However, he kept his eyes averted only looking at their connected hands once or twice as he remained silent.

Off in his own world, Tsukishima leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. He ignored his surroundings as he fell totally and wholly grateful for the soft jazz music of the elevator. Considering all that was going on in his life and everything this _senpai,_ this _shortstuff_ , _this kid_ was throwing at him, this was the first time in a long time that he realized this type of music was soothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> light-hearted tone. Fun.


	3. A Special Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Hinata growing all quiet all of a sudden, Tsukishima can't help but think somethings wrong with him, when he asks about it, well...

Tsukishima braced himself as the elevator slowed to a stop as it neared his floor. The moment the doors would open he would be hit with a rush of noise--rowdy college students goofing off and others practicing their assortment of musical instruments without abandon. As an art student he'd been blessed or cursed to live with others traditional artists and performing artists. 

While a part of him wished he'd brought his noise-cancelling headphones, another part of him wondered how Hinata would handle it. He was always so interested by the sights and sounds of everything around him. Tsukishima couldn't help but think he would find his way to involved himself with any and everyone they passed by. 

As he thought to give him a speaking to, he narrowed his eyes looking at him as he did a stray line on a digital drawing. The kid was quiet, unusually so that he thought he'd finally decided to act like a proper college kid for once. Though, he was doubtful, there was no way that someone as _knuckled-headed_ as him would ever change so drastically.

“Shortstack." Tsukishima teasingly knocked him upside his head. "What's gotten into you now?” 

Hinata softly squeezed his hand as he looked aside almost as if his mind was elsewhere.

“Squirt- _senpai._ ” Tsukishima tightened his hold as he pulled him into the hallway. “Speak up, squirt-­ _senpai_. Oi squirt- _senpai,_ can you hear me down there?”

Tsukishima fully expected him to grumble and retort at the teasing. What he didn’t expect was for him to look at him with eyes fondly aglow with an emotion he couldn’t name. The flush in his cheeks and the way he fidgeted ever so slightly was just as hard to define.

Tsukishima couldn't stare long as he and Hinata were knocked aside as a half-naked teenager waving a water gun ran right through them. He laughed maniacally as another teen, naked and covered in a nice lather of soap and shampoo, was right on his tail. They were around a corner and gone just as soon as they appeared.

Tsukishima grumbled something or another as he clasped Hinata's hand and pulled him to his feet. He barely acknowledged how warm and clammy his hand was as he noticed how pink and dimpled his cheeks were.

Hinata tore his gaze away as soon as he realized Tsukishima was staring at him. His eyes, however, occasionally flicked to their connected hands. He fidgeted a bit more than he did before.

Tsukishima would have exhibited the typical norms of hospitality and apologized for the annoying people he lived with but he couldn’t help but grow concerned over Hinata’s weird behavior. He was much too quiet, much too distant, and seemingly embarrassed. Either he was chickening out of the arrangement or he’d grown uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that he no longer wanted to deal with him. Concerned, he addressed him with seriousness. “Short-er-Hinata-senpai, I'm not trying to hold you against your will or treat you like a hostage or something, if you really don’t want to be here, we can go back downstairs and go somewhere else. I can get my supplies from the room and then I can ask a _senpai_ for-”

“No! Don't!” Hinata gripped their hands as he finally looked at him. “I want to be here. I really do.”

“Then why are you acting so _distant_ and _off_? Just a moment ago you were all _bratty_ and _happy_ to yap my ear off but now you’re _different_.”

Hinata grimaced and averted his gaze.

“You keep doing that!”

“Of course I’d keep doing this when you suddenly do this all!” Hinata matched him in volume as he looked at him eyes that gleamed with an unnamable emotion.

“And what is _this?”_

Hinata lowered his voice. “Do you really gotta ask?”

“Of course I do, I’m not a mindreader _kid_.” Tsukishima answered as he searched his features for any sort of hint or answer. 

“Aren’t you an artist?” Hinata's voice remained soft and low as he spoke to a wall. “Aren’t you supposed to notice the _little_ things?”

“Oi. What are you getting at?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Hinata squirmed a little and squeezed his hand. “We’re holding hands, like co-co-co-” He gulped and blushed, hard. “Couple.”

Words evaded Tsukishima as he realized he’d wasted so much time, energy, and brain power on the _kid_. He could only stare in awe as he wondered how in the world someone like him was his _senpai._ Honestly it made no sense and it made no sense how something as meaningless, ordinary, and simple as holding his hand like the _kid_ he was would lead to such a dumb misunderstanding. Unable to roll his eyes enough he simply bopped him on the head.

“Ouch what was that for?” Hinata rubbed his head.

“I don’t know." Tsukishima bopped him repeatedly timing it to his each and every. "Maybe for being _dumb, kiddie, simple, and idiotic?_ ”

“How?!" Hinata swatted his hand away. "You hold hands with the one you-"

“Why would you think any of that was whatever the _hell_ ran through that pea sized brain of yours?”

“Cause we're in a relationship.”

“Yes which is why grabbing you by the hand and tugging you harshly was the only thing I could do to remind you that you had a job to do. You were busy making a scene you know and I had to stop you from making it worst."

“I was not making a scene.”

“You were you twerp, need I remind you of what you said?"

Hinata's blush deepened as the memory of being drawn in his _birthday suit_ crossed his mind. Not offering a retort, he merely followed Tsukishima, occasionally looking forward but occasionally lowering his gaze and staring at the hand he held mere moments prior. Such a gaze must have been felt by Tsukishima who stuffed his hands into his pocket lest another another _misunderstanding_ disrupt them again.

Hinata sighed before he returned to his usual self--quipping about any and everything around them. 

Tsukishima would never admit it but having the kid hold a conversation with himself and occasionally some of the other people they passed by was much better than walking through these halls alone. He didn’t know how or when it happened but it seemed as if everyone else established friendships with each other while he himself still only knew his roommate. Even now, as Hinata consistently tried to introduce the two of them to everyone they passed, he could barely recall ever holding a conversation with many of them let alone greeting them and learning their names.

“So many cool people!” Hinata grabbed his wrist shaking it and pulling him out of his mind. “Everyone’s so talented with their art and music and so passionate about their hobbies too. And like so nice as well, inviting us to watch movies, play games, and listen to them sing and dance. How'd an angry _telephone pole_ like you get placed up here with them?”

“Oi, I don’t know _kid_ - _senpai_. Maybe it’s the same one who thought putting a _bratty kid_ like you in college would be a funny joke.” As Hinata growled like feisty little puppy, he chuckled and smirked, glad to ruffle his feathers.

“So Tsukki can smile.” Hinata smiled smugly.

“What?”

“It’s just, you were looking a little out of it for awhile there like you were regretting something.” Hinata swayed from side-to-side as he looked at his feet. “So I wanted to do something about it. I mean, we're walking to your room together, where you’ll introduce me to your roommate, and I couldn't show up looking like I was the only that was having fun since who knows what they would say about me, about us.” His ears were pink as he fell into thought.

Tsukishima honestly had no clue what the kid was on about and wasn’t about to waste anymore brain cells worrying about him and whatever other _foolishness_ ran through his head as he walked away. He'd just about made it to his door, before he realized the _kid_ was dawdling there they stood. His eyes were glued to some poster on the wall. “ Oi, Are you coming, or are you gonna stand there looking like a lost child, come on?”

“Sorry, got distracted-"

“You don’t need to explain yourself,” Tsukishima said tiredly. He was ready to draw and free himself of the _shortstuff_ for the day.

Awe and confusion was evident in Hinata’s voice as he remained in place. “But I do, this poster, what’s it doing here?”

“What poster?” Considering how most of his peers could barely draw themselves out of a paper bag, Tsukishima rarely paid attention to the posters decorating the hallways. 

“This volleyball one. Look at it, it’s-"

“Incredible, ain’t it?” A voice from behind made them tear their gazes from one another and stare at a snarky looking tall kid. He smirked as if he took pride in the attention.

“We can talk about it later." Tsukishima grabbed Hinata by the hand and tugged him away from him. Of all the people he wanted to see he was the last person he wanted to see. He was annoying as he didn't even know what. "We should go, now.”

“Stop it Tsukki, you _meanie,_ I wanna see the poster before we go, we've got time-”

“Nope, no time.” Tsukishima hastened his pace caring little that the _kid_ was tripping on his own feet. 

“Aw _Tsukki._ " The raven haired _jerk_ sing-songed as he trailed them. “The _kid_ wants to see the poster. Don’t be such a _meanie Tsukki_.”

The guy could barely contain his laughter as Tsukishima whipped his head and sent him a fierce glare.

“Yeah Tsukki,” Hinata added as he dug his heels into the carpet, remaining staunchly in place. “The poster is like the single most coolest thing I've seen all day. Like it makes our Ace look so _badass_ and cool." Stars were in his eyes as he craned his head and looked at it. 

“Wait? The one _Tsukki_ got involved with is you? Wow.” The guy dropped all teasing as he sized Hinata up. “Tsukishima, you didn't tell me that the guy who rocked your world is Hinata- _senpai_ .”

“Phrasing,” Tsukishima warned. "And it's just _shortstuff-senpai_. Why does it matter?" 

"I have a name you know." Hinata glared while the slightest of red dusted his cheeks. 

The guy spoke matter-of-factly interrupting whatever Tsukishima was going to say. “Because he’s on the volleyball team, with Bokuto.” 

“You know Bokuto?” Hinata dropped his glare as he looked at the guy with interest.

“Of course he does, he brings Bokuto- _senpai_ to the room like all the time.” Tsukishima groaned. “They’re both so _insufferable.”_

“We are not, you’re just boring with a capital B.”

“Yes Kuroo, somehow I’m the boring one that spends the _entire day_ touching shirtless pics of himself and his boyfriend. Excellent use of time, really.” Tsukishima couldn't sound any more derisive if he tried.

“It’s part of the job, senpai." Kuroo’s cheeks flared red. "I mean the photos, touching up of photos of Bokuto, I mean of the sports teams, all of them, in the gym or the field or you know." As if realizing he wasn't doing himself any fares he finally sighed and looked away. "What I'm trying to say is that I’m a film, photography, and visual arts major, nothing less and nothing more as much as _Tsukki_ would have you believe.”

“Emphasis on the _photography of Bokuto-senpai_ ,” Tsukishima chirped making Kuroo bumble his explanation.

“I want to be a sports photographer, hence my photos of Bokuto, as well as of you and Kageyama- _senpai_. If _Tsukki_ isn’t a _meanie_ then he’ll let me show them to you in our room.”

Tsukishima knew absolutely well the guy would just be as annoying as ever and distract them. “Absolutely not,” he said. “We’ve wasted enough time as is and I can’t have you wasting anymore of it. And no, you can’t stay. You have plans in the visual arts lab, remember?”

Kuroo tilted his head. “Since when?”

“Since now.” Tsukishima waved his roommate's cell-phone. “I’ve already told Bokuto- _senpai_ that you’ll be there. He’s waiting.” The phone buzzed with message upon message.

“You sly weasel.” Kuroo snatched his phone and looked ready to retort but he got distracted by a message or two. “Don’t think this is over _Tsukki_.” He emphasized the nickname in a way that got under Tsukishima’s skin. “Just because you finally brought a _friend_ over doesn’t mean you need to show off.”

“Show off?”

“Uh-huh, you gotta make a good impression for him lest he think your some _wet blanket_ , but next time, next time we’re gonna show who you really are. Don't forget we did print off all those embarrassing photos of you. When Hinata- _senpai_ sees it he's gonna have a hoot."

“Try me." Tsukishima spoke darkly. "I dare you too, you hear. Try me and they and your computer will burn."

“I’d like to see you try.” Kuroo smiled as if losing the battle had won him the war.

Tsukishima grumbled an expletive before he beckoned Hinata into the room. They were silent and both in their own heads, Tsukishima seemingly entertaining thoughts of where such incriminating photos would be and Hinata seemingly blushing as he so had since they'd had their scene in the lobby downstairs. Either the thought of being accepted by the roommate had his spirits high or the thought of being someone who Tsukishima wanted to impress ran through his mind, either way, he tightened his hand around Tsukishima's and giggled as if all was right in the world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first time doing bokukuroo, hope i did em justice
> 
> otherwise, tsukki please notice your senpai's feelings, he isn't even trying to hide em and you're missing every single sign


	4. Draw Me, Draw Me Tsukki! Draw Me!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata finally has the chance to learn a little about his kouhai, though what he also finds impresses him.

“Whoa!” Hinata barely kicked his flip flops off before he stood captivated by the room's contrasting aesthetic. Where Kuroo’s side oozed sports, sex, and cars, Tsukishima’s highlighted scholarship, artistic mastery, and _dinosaurs_.

Big plush dinosaurs, some rather new, some rather old, probably from home, sat tucked neatly beneath the covers while they rest on dinosaur themed pillows. Above the bed, dinosaur scale models lined several shelves. Framed posters, some from perhaps real artists and others seemingly hand drawn, hung beside them. 

“You didn’t tell me you drew this type of stuff. I thought you only drew the boring stuff.” Impressed, genuinely and honestly, Hinata tugged his _kouhai’s_ arms with the vigor of a child trying to get their parent’s attention.

“Trying to be a wise guy or something _squirt-senpai_?” Tsukishima yanked his arm free.

“No, I’m not a squirt, or a kid, or-, no, none of that’s important right now.” Hinata spoke more to himself than to Tsukishima as he grabbed his arm. “What's important is that we're in a relationship and we shouldn't be keeping things from each other, so why, why didn't you tell me?"

"Know your place _kid."_ Tsukishima pushed his glasses up and looked away. He couldn't bear to confront such a look of betrayal head on. "What would have I gained by telling someone like you what I drew? It's not like you're an artist that could critique me."

“Come on, if I was a kid, _which I'm not_ , then you know I’d be all over this. Like everything looks so incredible, so cool, and so awesome… and is this _Indominus Rex_ from the movie?" Off on a tangent, Hinata pushed those feelings of betrayal aside as his eyes widened, brightened, and twinkled like he was a kid in a toy store. "I love that movie. You won’t believe how many times I watched it. You remember when it went all RAWRRRRR, and the guy was all VROOM VROOM on his motorcycle! And the three Velociraptors, ahh they were so cool!” He squealed in delight.

Tsukishima didn't have to respond as Hinata marched like a dinosaur and reenacted his favorite parts of the movie. Off in his own world he fell to giggles and exclamations as he lost himself in the moment.

Exasperated, Tsukishima left him to his own devices as he went about his _pre-drawing_ routine. While he focused on his usual hand exercises and simple sketches, he couldn't help but look at the _kid_ out of the corner of his eye. Seeing his _senpai_ looking at his framed drawings, posing like them, and then pointing out things he loved about them, well, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy having someone fawn over his work.

It was rare that people liked his more _inspired_ arts. He always felt like it was his _calling_ and poured his mind, heart, and soul into them. Kuroo was the first exception.

When Tsukishima first hung his drawings up, Kuroo complimented them. Tsukishima figured he was a nosy jerk since he liked to squirm his way into everything he did, but when Bokuto complimented them too, he saw things differently. Perhaps his roommate and his boyfriend were genuinely interested in his work. Honestly, Hinata, Kuroo, and Bokuto, surprised him in a good way and made him wish he knew them in high school.

The people there hadn’t understood his art and always steered him towards more _generic, lame,_ and _uninspired_ work that he didn’t really care for. While he could garner praise for them enough to win at a few art competitions, he could never garner any feelings of self-achievement or enjoyment for them. There was nothing interesting about them.

While he'd come close to drawing his real passion for class and for his friends, he thought otherwise. The few people who saw what he really drew thought he was joking or ridiculed him telling him to draw something that was worthwhile and becoming of a blossoming artist. Such opinions left him keeping to himself and restraining his creative muscles.

Plush dinosaurs falling onto the floor pulled him out of his memories. He whipped his head around and widened his eyes as Hinata bounced on his bed like it was his personal trampoline. Not only that, he was acting like the little kid that he was as he held two dinosaur figurines and moved them like they were toys. 

Afraid that he would destroy them like he destroyed his sketchbook, Tsukishima scrambled out of his chair and towered over him. “Down, put them down now, right now Hinata _-senpai._ ”

Too deep in his own world, Hinata made all sorts of sound effects as he brought the dinosaurs near and far as if they were attacking each other.

“Twerp, I know you heard me.”

Hinata finally looked at him. “Why, I just wanna-”

“I don't care what you _wanna_ do. I care if you break them, which I swear, if you do-"

“I'm not some little kid you know," Hinata snapped as he kept playing with the dinosaurs. "So calm down and let me have my fun."

“Just when I'd given you the benefit of the doubt you go and pull _crap_ like this." Tsukishima rolled his eyes. "Be honest with me, you're just some little kid that had your parents lie on your college application, right? It'd only make sense."

“No, never." Hinata profusely denied the allegations. "They wouldn’t ever, I wouldn’t ever-”

“Then put them down now or else I’m, I’m, I’m.” Tsukishima looked around for something, anything to threaten him with before he remembered his weird mannerisms. “Fine, if you don’t put them back right now then I'm gonna kick you out and you'll never ever see me again, _ever_."

“What?!” Before the exclamation even left his mouth he had the dinosaurs back on the shelves where he got them.

Pleased, Tsukishima nearly returned to his seat before he got a great idea. Considering what the kid did, he wasn't going to let him off the hook without any sort of repercussion. 

While Hinata found himself captivated by another drawing on the wall, Tsukishima grabbed his ankles and pulled them back hard and fast. Mid-bounce _slash_ mid-fall, Hinata flailed about before he landed flat on his tummy before bouncing upward uncontrollably. His hollers, frightened and terrified, were pitchy and squeaky.

While he tried to regain control he couldn’t. Tsukishima still had his ankles restrained, though as Hinata kicked about, he let him go, letting him bounce to the side, up, and off the bed to the floor below. A _thud,_ painful and loud, briefly filled the air, but it was soon replaced with agonized groaning.

“That smarts.” Hinata's voice was muffled as he literally ate the floor. "Gah, really smarts."

“Smarts?” Tsukishima snorted. “Of course a kid like you would say that.”

“I wouldn't have to say it if you were _of age_.”

“Excuse me?”

“Come on Tsukki, only a little kid would do what you just did.” Hinata sat upright and stuck his tongue out. “It takes a kid to know a kid.”

“Says the one sticking his tongue out like one.”

Hinata crossed his arms and looked aside. “So.”

“So what.”

“So I won.” Hinata smiled smugly and proudly. “I won, I won.”

Tsukishima narrowed his eyes. “We weren’t competing.”

“Of course a loser would say that." Hinata spoke as if it was the written truth. "Only a loser wouldn’t want to admit defeat.” 

“Will you please just fix your glasses and shut up, your nonsense is gonna give me a headache.”

“I'll shut up once you admit defeat. Now tell me I won. I’m waiting Tsukki. Tell me I won.” By now he was on all fours crawling up to him and tugging his shorts, punctuating his each and every word with a downward pull. Though when they eventually gave a little he saw the tiniest peeking of the dinosaur themed trunks Tsukishima wore. Excited, he nearly yanked them down.

“Even your underwear Tsukki?! You must really like dinosaurs don’t cha! I do too though not like that, I like volleyballs, say wanna see mine, huh wanna?” He was on his feet nearly pulling his own shorts down before Tsukishima, red faced, stopped him.

“Just, just, just shut up please, and stop it already.”

"Why, what’s the point of wearing these if we aren’t gonna show em off?”

“What?”

“We do it in the locker-room all the time and it isn’t like you haven’t seen Bokuto’s and Kuroo’s before.” Hinata glanced towards the messier side of the room where clothes were scattered about.

“First-off, this isn’t a locker-room, secondly, I’m not wearing them to _show them off_ , and thirdly, we’re in no way, shape, or form, like those two.”

“But we’re friends, that counts for something, right?”

“Even if we...” Tsukishima struggled to speak as Hinata now had his own shorts all the way down showing those volleyball decorated briefs that he was so proud of. While they were kind of kiddie with the goofy volleyballs with smiley faces on them, they were kind of skimpy. Why they were in that low rise style that hung off his hips in the most flattering of ways escaped him.

Honestly, Tsukishima found himself gulping as his eyes roamed his _senpai_ from top to bottom. He'd never looked at him let alone another boy this closely before, but with Hinata putting himself out here like this he couldn't help too. His feet were small and muscular, yet beautiful and handsome. His complexion was smooth, glowing, and radiant. His calves, thighs, abs, and his pecs, he just noticed, were all solid, defined, yet flattering and attractive enough so that he licked his lips and looked away. How his tank and that strap hung across his shoulder, almost falling off, and how perspiration trailed from his neck down his chest, and over his pecs, and that taut pink nipple, left him hot, bothered.

“Tsukki?” Hinata was in front of him, leaning as he looked him in the eye. “Tsukki, hey, Tsukki, why are you flushed and sweating, you okay?”

“I’ll be okay if you pipe down and-.” The thought of Hinata looking like he did didn’t leave his mind as quickly as he wanted it to. It left him searching for words as his _senpai_ stood so unreasonably close.

“And what?” Hinata hummed in curiosity, giving Tsukishima a few moments to finally gather his thoughts.

“I don’t know, really I don’t know.” Thoughts still evaded him. “Just, sit there, find some toy in your bag to play with or color this coloring book or something, I don’t know what kids like you do, just leave me alone and let me get my mind straight before I draw you.” He pulled a coloring book out of his drawer and a pack of crayons and handed it to him. “Just be quiet and let me be.”

“Tsuk-"

“Please.” Tsukishima’s expression left Hinata grabbing the coloring book and crayons in silence. His lips quivered as his eyes roamed his face as if he were going to say something. Though sensing that Tsukishima wasn't in the mood, he only jumped in the bed and lay on it, ready to get to work, but not ready to give up on looking at Tsukishima.

Tsukishima barely paid him any mind as he gathered his materials, flicked on a lamp, and put some music on, just the quietest.

Mayhaps convinced that Tsukishima was alright, he finally colored, happily, and honestly into it as he kicked his legs about ahd hummed. That humming though was short-lived as he spoke wistfully. “What you doing?”

“Drawing.” Tsukishima answered robotically as he was in the zone, sketching to get the juices flowing.

“Drawing what?”

“A picture.” His hand slipped a little but not enough to ruin the sketch. He’d fix it later.

“A picture of what?”

He twitched making a long line go all the way across most of what he was drawing. Though it was just a sketch of something or another, he didn’t really know, it was still something he’d poured a part of him into and it got to him. That feeling laced his each and every word. “What I’m drawing, well, I’m drawing a picture of a pesky, annoying, bratty little twerp who won’t mind his own business.”

“I was just asking, you didn’t have get all mean about it.” Hinata didn’t even look at him. “Honestly Tsukki, you can’t make friends if you treat people this way.”

“Well why would I want to be friends with a _squirt_ like you?”

“Cause, I’m cool, amazing and you know I actually like-” He stopped coloring as he gulped, not willing to say what he wanted to say.

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow. “Well A, you’re none of those things, and B, if you were, I still wouldn’t want to be friends with you, and before you get it in your little empty head that we are, we’re not. We're partners each playing a role in a working relationship.”

“Partners?” Hinata gulped audibly as he flicked his eyes at him and away. Red slowly blossomed on his cheeks as he spoke breathlessly. “Partners, like a couple, in a relationship?”

“Yes _senpai,_ thats the definition." Tsukishima teased his senpai in the same way he teased him.

“A couple.” Hinata spoke as if totally and complete parched. His eyes drifted to a bottle of water on Tsukishima's desk. He might have asked for it had he not been stricken like a spell had charmed, bewitched, and held him in its total and complete control. A blush slowly blossomed on his face as he turned aside cowering as if he didn't want to be seen. He was heard, however, as he squealed in total and complete delight. 

Tsukishima sighed and shook his head as he returned to his work. 

Even after he finished it a half an hour later, Hinata was still out of it smiling up a storm. 

“What are you looking like that for?” Tsukishima found himself asking. Hinata baffled him and interested him in both a weird and fascinating way. 

“It’s a secret.” Hinata looked away and chuckled to himself.

“A secret.” Tsukishima sighed. "Really, the kid has a secret, are you kidding me right now?" He asked rhetorically.

“Yes a secret and I’m not going to tell you unless you tell me about your drawings.” He bounced a little and looked at him going against whatever coyness he was trying to display. “Come on, tell me, tell me, tell me.”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Because we're partners!” He said in a happy panic. "And partners in a couple share things with each other."

“Look, I’ll tell you ONE and only one thing about my drawings if you do like you were doing before, kicking your legs and coloring.”

“Why?”

“Cause I’m going to draw you, remember?”

"But now?!" Hinata's blush intensified as he averted his gaze. “I'm still dressed."

“Kid get whatever it is you and your little friend were looking at our of your mind. We're not doing anything of the like." Tsukishima He pushed his glasses up. “Today.”

Hinata didn't exactly look convinced though as Tsukishima thumbed his fingers on his arm he slowly moved into position, laying about, acting as if he were coloring while kicking his legs up and down. Though, perhaps, something crossed his mind as he found himself blushing while looking at Tsukishima.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get here." Tsukishima knew exactly what he was thinking about. "For now focus, for that, we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

“But, but, but, but, oh em gee, oh em gee, you’re going to draw me like that. I, I, I.” He fell into gibberish and the like as he tried to handle all of this new knowledge but he couldn’t. If he was a cartoon character he would have had smoke rising out of his ears, a scalp that exploded off his head, and a face that was as red as a tomato.

To stop him, Tsukishima thrust the kid’s face into the coloring book shutting him up.

As the kid raised his head, looking at him with askew glasses and a lopsided frown, Tsukishima snorted, genuinely and honestly. If the kid was trying to look angry it was failing, badly.

“Tsukki!”

“Hinata- _senpai_ please get it together and pose like you were, don’t you want me to draw you _senpai_." Tsukishima feigned an annoyed yet playful voice. "Oi _senpai_ I guess I will have to ask Kuroo or Bokuto- _senpai._ ”

“No, no, no, I’m posing, I’m posing. See!” Hinata quickly returned to how he was, grabbing a crayon, putting the coloring book in front of him, fluffing his hair out a bit, and kicking his legs.

“Thanks, but your glasses, _squirt_.” Though they bumped hands, Hinata's pulled away as Tsukishima positioned his glasses for him. Hinata almost said something, but when Tsukishima's hands were in his hair, ruffling it. and situating a few strands how he wanted it, he quieted.

Hinata grew stiff, silent, and practically didn't breathe as Tsukishima honestly had his way with him. From his hair, to his tank top, to his shorts, and even his legs and feet, he touched him and positioned him like he was his beautiful doll that he wanted to pose and show off to the world. The thought and the sight of Tsukishima eyeing him with the eye of an artist preparing his masterpiece for a grand debut at a showing, had Hinata struggling to remain still as feelings of happiness seemed ready to escape him, but he kept them internalized as he didn’t want the moment to end. Even as Tsukishima let him go, turned his chair around, and began drawing he remained as he was. It was easy to sit there, to watch his eyes go back and forth and to hear him hum, mumble, nibble his lip, and scribble away. It was nice seeing his eyes twinkling every now and then, his lips curl upwards every now and then, and his hand move faster yet gracefully and beautifully every now and then. He looked in his element and in some ways looked as if he were something out of this world. 

“Hold it,” Tsukishima said as he pointed at his face.

Hinata didn’t blink, didn’t breathe, and didn’t think as he knew Tsukishima was giving his expression it all. He giggled internally as he couldn’t wait to see how it looked, but also at having the privilege to see Tsukishima like this. To see the only guy in the world that took a fancy to him inviting him into his private sacred sanctuary like this...he almost felt as if they were were a cou-cou-couple having a moment.

He couldn’t contain his feelings anymore as he kicked his leg and grabbed the nearest dinosaur plush putting his head inside of it and verbalizing everything he felt into it. Muffled, it was lost to the world. Though as he let those feelings out, he realized what he'd just did and hugged the dinosaur tightly. His eyes were big, wide, and apologetic, while his lips were downturned. His entire demeanor begged apology as he looked at Tsukishima, but he wasn't noticed. Tsukishima was still scribbling on his drawing pad, though not as vigorously as before.

Tsukishima eventually sensed him looking and dropped his pencil. “What?”

“Just.” Hinata seemed to considering mentioning everything just now or not but Tsukishima beat him to the punch, disrupting him.

“So you wanted to know something about my drawings?”

“Yeah!” Hinata quickly sat up with legs crossed while he hugged that dinosaur. He swayed and giggled excitedly as if getting some insight into Tsukishima was something he’d wanted for so long.

“Okay.” Tsukishima was silent and contemplative before he cleared his throat, leaned the slightest bit forward as if to build suspense. He spoke softly, quietly like he was going to tell a secret. Hinata had giggled a little as he leaned in nice and close receptive for this nugget of information.

“My drawings are," Tsukishima quieted as he looked around and around before beckoning Hinata even closer. Once they were practically face to face, he spoke. "My drawings are, dinosaurs, Hinata- _senpai_. They are dinosaurs. Real dinosaurs. Cool, don't cha think?”

“Tsukkiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” Hinata flopped backward and kicked his legs up and down and everything as he rolled about. “I already knew that you meanie! You got my hopes up for nothing, for nothing at all!”

“Not my fault you weren’t specific, _Hi-na-ta_.” Tsukishima singsonged as he swiveled around putting his drawing pad on his desk. He would have continued it but Hinata’s ongoing antics made him laugh, genuinely, and honestly to the point he was pulling his glasses off and wiping his eyes. It was a good laugh, a really good one, that had him smiling big and wide even as the door opened and Bokuto along with Kuroo stepped in. The two of them, both looking a little flushed with lips, almost blue, and red marks on their necks, paused in the doorway as they took the two of them in. As they looked from Hinata kicking about on the bed and Tsukishima laughing and crying, they broke out into big bright teasing grins. 

“Oh ho?” Kuroo quickly snapped a picture of his roommate. The flash pulled Tsukishima out of his reverie and sent him scowling.

“Delete it you _bastard_ , delete it now.”

“Nope, I’m saving it, blowing it up, and printing it to put on our wall.” He pointed to his side of the room where a cork-board with photos of all his high school and first-year college memories made through this portion of his first year in college were tacked on. Apart from one image of Tsukishima glaring at him, it lacked the teenager.

“Do it and I rip the whole thing down, you know I’d do it.”

“Would you now?” Kuroo stood undaunted by him as Hinata finally came too.

“Kuroo- _kun_ , Bokuto! Hey!” Hinata beamed as he held a hand out for his teammate.

Bokuto high-fivved him and chuckled. “Who knew you knew Tsukishima- _kun_ too?”

“Well _squirt-senpai_ wouldn’t have known me if he hadn’t been pesky and annoying in the cafeteria.” Tsukishima glared before focusing it back on Kuroo, who, by the way, brushed him off as he went to his side of the room clearly uploading the picture to his hard drive. Tsukishima was up in an instant making his way to him, before he screeched and tumbled. His face was buried in his roommate's dirty clothes.

“Tsukki!” Hinata ran to his side, turning him over. "Tsukki, speak to me, speak to me Tsukki! Please!" He moaned about as if he were holding his dying friend.

“Tsukki?” Bokuto was less animated as he repeated the name and looked at Kuroo, who chuckled, before repeating the name. They suddenly grinned as if it was a fun new word to say, before they repeated it and pointed at each other. They went back and forth, loudly, obnoxiously, and so aggravatingly, that Tsukishima was up in an instant scowling at the lot of them as Hinata fell aside. “Shut-it, all of you!”

“But Tsukki, you’re all red, are you hurt?” Hinata looked him over. “Bandage?” He pointed at a bit of blood trailing down his forehead.

Before he could say anything, Kuroo smirked at him. “Yeah _Tsukki..._ does little _Tsukki_ need a little _kiss_ to his _boo-boo.”_

“K-k-kiss.” Hinata squirmed in place, fidgeting as he looked at him and the floor and him again. As if the sudden realization that he was close to Tsukishima, enough so that he could practically lean in and kiss that _boo-boo_ hit him hard. His voice was all a mess as he made weird sudden sounds that could only be considered squealing. Though rather than in a good way it sounded kind of bad as if he were having some sort of panic that sent everyone looking at him with either smiles, or confusion. If anyone asked him anything, he didn't hear them as his scream drowned them all out. “N-n-n-nooooooo too soon, too soon!”

“Hinata?” Bokuto tilted his head as he, Kuroo, and Tsukishima looked at him, but their looks, no Tsukishima’s, only made him more flustered as he stumbled aside.

“I-I-I-I, need to go, like right now. I-I-I-I ehhhh!” Before anyone could stop him he had his bag and flip-flops on and was gone.

As he left a trail of dust in his wake, the others looked between each other before Kuroo stood and was at Tsukishima's side, kneeling with a hand on his shoulder. Any seriousness he tried to convey didn't come through as he smiled, and struggled to hold a chuckle. “You gonna let him go alone?” He laughed. “He is your _guest_.”

“What are you saying?”

"Words, phrases, and sentences." Kuroo grinned as his brow bounced up and down.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. "If I wasn't the one tutoring you in English, I'd be impressed, but since I am, stop being a wiseguy and go study or something, you know your grades aren't gonna get any better by wasting time with me."

"Hey, hey, I was just kidding." 

"Kidding or not, go away, I have this drawing to finish." Tsukishima shoved him, or tried to, but Kuroo was immovable and persistent.

"Tsukkiiiii, stop pushing me away." Kuroo feigned a pout. "We haven't seen each other all day and you're already trying to get rid of me? Think about how I feel."

"Think about how you feel? Don't make me laugh, especially when you have your boyfriend over there looking like a lost little puppy."

As if a switch was flipped, Kuroo was on his bed tackling Bokuto and rolling about before they fell to hushed whispers and teases. As soon as shirts and shorts ended up on the floor, Tsukishima was rolling his eyes, throwing his headphones on, and eyeing his drawing. Seeing his senpai's face though, left him occasionally glancing at the door and wondering what was the kid's deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is fun to write, also, Hinata so silly and Tsuki teasing him is so fun. I love this


	5. Working Relationship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima thought he would do an art assignment, he really did, but someway somehow, he end up drawing something else totally and completely. Who knew it would be that kid that has driven him up the wall and then some, or has he?

Tsukishima was honestly having the nap of his life when he was suddenly jolted awake as a thud, a heavy one at that, had him leaping out of his skin. Breathing heavy and heart thumping, he looked around for the source of his anxiety. As blob-like figures moved about, he balked and bumped into his desk, knocking sketchbook, pencils, and cell phone to the floor below. As he scrambled to grab them, those blobs spoke. 

“What’s your problem, bruh?” Bokuto’s usually cheerful voice was stained with the vestiges of sleep.

“I don’t have a problem!” Kuroo’s words were cut short as a sharp pain sent him glaring and groaning. “What’s your problem?”

“I don’t have a problem. What’s yours?!”

Bokuto groaned. “Bruh, I wouldn’t have asked you if I had a problem.”

“Then why’d you ask me!”

“I dunno, how am I supposed to know?”

“Because bruh, you’re my _senpai_.” Kuroo's voice had a sweet saccharin taste to it that sent Bokuto quieting and shifting beneath the covers. Limbs bumping limbs and feet and legs thudding across the floor added sound to the room.

“Bruh, say it again,” Bokuto's voice was a tired yet excited whisper as he stared into Kuroo’s eyes. The soft glow of Tsukishima’s desk lamp gave them a beautiful glow. “Please Kuroo- _kun_ say it again. Say it again.”

“You like it when I say it like that, huh, _Bokuto-senpai_?” Kuroo’s raspy voice was paired with a stroke to Bokuto’s head that sent the senior college student sighing and fidgeting. As if spurred on by something carnal, Kuroo pulled the covers tightly over them as he lowered his voice, repeating his words as he and his boyfriend moved about. Their words soon fell low, their movements soon grew subtle, while the sound of lips on lips grew noticeable.

Realizing that this would be a long night, a very long one if the occasional moan and cat-like growl was anything to go by, Tsukishima gathered his belongings and made his escape. If they noticed him leave, they didn’t say anything as they remained totally and wholly focused on each other.

Downstairs, Tsukishima considered commandeering one of the many tables in the common room, but testy voices of students holding statistics study groups, or was it mathematics, he couldn’t tell as it was all Greek to him, told him otherwise. So, instead, he ended up outside.

Barefooted and dressed in a goofy graphic tee paired with lounge pants decorated with dinosaurs, like his shirt, he looked no different than the very students he despised—the tired, lazy, slacker art-scene kids that were just here for a good time. In another life, he might have been here for a good time with the friends he’d spend the night playing videogames with and the classmates that’d invite him to movie nights and the like, and the teammates that he’d form lasting bonds with, but, instead, he was stuck as an introvert that needed people around him to force him into situations where he could _kinda sorta_ have a good time. Many, if not most, of his social life involved being dragged to whatever Kuroo thought he would like, but since meeting Bokuto, those moments were few and far between. Kuroo could be pushy, annoying, and overbearing but he still seemed to know where to draw a boundary.

Perhaps this was why Tsukishima found dealing with _shortstuff_ to be so interesting. As much as the _kid_ ignored any type of boundaries between them and got on his everlasting nerves, there was a certain method to his madness that made it hard for him to push him away. His earnest desires to make him smile, break him out of his shell, and be his friend was something Tsukishima couldn’t ding him for or hate. What he could hate though was how the _kid_ had worked his way into his life in the first place and how he now found himself out here at these predawn hours trying redo one of the many assignments the _kid_ destroyed.

Tsukishima grumbled and groaned as thoughts of all the work he needed to make up remained firmly lodged in his mind while he searched for an empty drawing studio in one of the many art buildings he had classes in. Considering how the _whims of creativity cared little for rest or sleep_ , he wasn’t surprised to see some of his classmates occupying many of the rooms, scratching their heads in confusion, yelling expletives to their sketchpad, and balling drawings up and beaming them towards the glass door. It would have been comical if it hadn’t been something that he not only imagined himself doing, but something that he had done on countless occasions.

For many a night he’d been just like them, pulling his blond hair out as he tried to draw the most technically competent artworks he could. Between the blocks he nearly broke a window with and the vase of flowers he’d nearly shattered, he'd come close to growing mad. He didn’t know why they needed to draw flower arrangements, building exteriors, or even landscapes. Sure he could understand the purpose of them, but to make them assignments? Bah. He’d rather draw what he wanted when he wanted. True art had soul, heart, and personality, not technical mastery of vocabulary terms anyone could learn reading Wikipedia or going onto Youtube.

With that in mind, that was how he now found himself sitting in an empty drawing studio, opening his sketchpad, and focusing on pouring his soul, heart, and personality onto the blank page before him.

* * *

“Oi _dumbass_ , this the jerky looking _bastard_ you were talking about?” Gruff, unfamiliar voice paired with a banging door's window sent Tsukishima bolting upwards. Glasses askew and morning fog made it hard glare at the jerk that'd interrupted his sleep. Wanting to sill give him a piece of his mind, he threw him the finger and cursed gibberish as he plopped his head right back down.

The tendrils of sleep almost pulled his consciousness away when he suddenly perked up, fixed his glasses, and stared at his makeshift pillow, his sketchpad. As he grabbed it, the memory of the kid ruining his original sketchpad hit him like a dodgeball to his face. Thinking the worst, he scanned the page up and down for any type of ruffled page, tear or rip, or otherwise. Trail of slobber linking his face to the page aside, everything was fine.

Grateful for avoiding an unmitigated disaster of unparalleled proportions, he dropped the sketchpad and leaned back, sighing in relief. Taking the moment to collect himself, he broke that trail of slobber and looked at the sketchpad with the eyes it deserved.

Untamed and unruly hair, drawn with the finest of details, brought a smile to his face. Bright, glowing, no twinkling eyes, depicted so well that they reflected the utmost in happiness, raised Tsukishima’s spirits. A goofy and dopey smile, perfectly drawn with the subtlety to feel pure, honest, and true sent Tsukishima laughing fondly.

Tender feelings focused towards the drawing of Hinata blossomed as he imagined many sounds and expressions Hinata would make. From that pitchy and squeaky voice Hinata used whenever he fended off one of Tsukishima’s many teases to Hinata’s many groans, exaggerated and comical, yet oh so pleasing to hear whenever Tsukishima ticked him off, Tsukishima found himself just sitting and grinning silly. Though, he couldn’t just stop imagining things there. He could easily imagine Hinata’s laughter, silly, yet addictive and pure-hearted, especially when he _got one over_ Tsukishima. Still, no matter what nonsense was the source of his laughter, Tsukishima couldn’t say he didn’t like hearing it. In fact, he loved it. It was just such a beautiful and memorable sound that he didn’t mind letting the _squirt_ laugh his little heart out.

Beyond all of Hinata’s squeaky voices, groans, and laughter though, was his perky, upbeat, and energetic voice. So excitable, it would by all means be annoying to hear, but somewhere in the dark recesses of Tsukishima’s mind it was entertaining and enjoyable. But it wouldn’t stop there. Sometimes, just sometimes, when paired with that look of pure adoration and joy on his features, Tsukishima found himself raising a hand to his face or turning aside as he found himself smiling at his _senpai_. He couldn’t show him he was smiling, he just couldn’t as Hinata would get some strange idea like he always did and act all weird.

Though maybe, just maybe, that was something Tsukishima found so endearing and entertaining about him. Something about _tinytown_ going on and on about any and everything that was on his mind, making himself giggle and laugh as if the conversation was the funniest and goofiest thing in the world, and turning and tugging Tsukishima’s wrist as he tried to get him to laugh always left him feeling perplexed. One side of him wanted to wrangle his wrist out of _the shrimp’s_ grasp and beg him to shut up, while the other side was paralyzed by that unforgettable, magnetizing, bright smile full of pure unadulterated youthful joy. Often, he found himself compromising, letting his mind and body do one thing while his heart and soul did another.

Even now he found himself immersed in that same sort of battle as he finally gave the _kid_ frantically waving in front of the window the attention he craved. He’d been ignoring him and his friend, as he didn’t want to deal with them as of yet, but considering they were getting wild looks from several art students and the occasional art professor, he just had give it to them.

The kid was jumping about and waving as if he didn’t think Tsukishima saw him. Tsukishima had, of course, but not because of his excitability or energy. Rather, it was his appearance and presence that made it hard, no, impossible to miss him. His orange hair, neon orange sports goggles, and the tangerine orange jersey, even with black accents, was all just too much. So much orange, so much brightness, so much luminosity, so much everything made it loud, noisy, and attention grabbing. Though as eye-catching as his appearance was, it still paled in comparison to that exuberant, electrifying, and magnetizing smile that’d as much as he tried to recreate it on paper, still eluded him.

He found himself staring it down, interrogating it, and memorizing each and every single detail as if he was studying it like he would if it was straight out of his art appreciation classes. No, it wasn’t like that at all. In fact, nothing through all his years of practicing and studying could compare to the magnificence of the living portrait in front of him. Truly, it was the greatest artistic masterpiece he’d ever seen and probably would ever see.

Drawn to it, he moved to the door, opened it, and peered nice and closely, or he tried to before he stumbled backwards, struggling to regain any sort of balance as his arms were locked in some sort of embrace. Glasses askew and winded, he could barely comprehend what was even going on.

“Tsukishima!” Hinata’s voice was as loud as ever as he fixed a smile upon his face while he looked in earnest at the _kouhai_ of his affections. Giggling with gladness, he cared little that Tsukishima was unresponsive and out of it. “We found you! We found you! Told you we’d find him Kageyama, told you we would!”

“You mean I found him.” Kageyama scoffed as he entered the studio, shutting the door behind him.

“We.” Hinata chirped matter-of-factly. “It took the two of us, you know.”

“Two of us? You mean the one of us.” Kageyama smirked. “You were too busy being a total _dumbass_ and staring at that _lameass_ poster of yourself to be of any use.”

“I-I-I-I-was not!” Hinata twitched and blushed. “You only saw me passing it by. I wasn’t looking at it, honest, I wasn’t.”

“Passing it by? Passing it by, by standing in front of it with your mouth wide open and your eyes all sparkly like a _dumbass_?” Kageyama chuckled. “Lame excuse.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be a lame excuse!” Hinata turned around and stuffed his face into Tsukishima’s shirt. “You just didn’t give me enough time to think of a good one!”

“So, you were looking!”

“I didn’t say that!” Hinata denied as he pressed his face even deeper into Tsukishima’s chest. “You know I can’t think on my feet all that well.”

“Of course I know that, that’s why I brought it up in the first place!”

Hinata tightened his hold around Tsukishima. “Fine, you brought it up, so what! Doesn’t mean I was looking.”

“You were so looking at it!” Immune to Hinata’s mannerisms, Kageyama approached him. “You were looking at it as if you don’t have that same poster stuck to the bottom of my bunk! You stare at it every single night!”

“And! Still doesn’t mean anything.” Growing more flustered and antsy by the moment, Hinata abandoned all efforts to deny the accusations and spoke more defensively as he met him, head, or rather, chest on—Kageyama was as tall as Tsukishima.

“It does.” Kageyama smirked as he stepped back and crossed his arms. “It means you’re a _dumbass_. A total _dumbass_.”

“Don’t give me that, you jerk, especially when it takes a _dumbass_ to know a _dumbass_!” Hinata stuck his tongue out. “ _Dumbass_ Kageyama. _Dumbass_ Kageyama.”

The vein in Kageyama’s temple throbbed as he eyed his friend with scorn and disdain. “Unless the jerkoff is called Kageyama then I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Of course, a _dumbass_ wouldn’t know who I’m talking about.” Hinata wore a self-affirming and proud smirk as he nodded. “Of course they wouldn’t.”

“Idiot.” Kageyama grabbed his collar hoisting him upwards. “What are you even saying?”

“What I’m saying is that you’re the one true _dumbass_ here.” Undaunted by his grip, Hinata remained as pompous as ever while he dangled in mid-air. “The biggest and brightest _dumbass_ there is.”

“That doesn’t even make sense, how would a _dumbass_ even be bright?”

“How would I know, I’m not a _dumbass_ , silly.” Hinata laughed himself silly as Kageyama scowled, totally and completely as if he were peeved to the extreme.

“You are a _dumbass_!” Kageyama rattled him around a bit. “I can even prove it to you.”

“How?” As Kageyama slackened his grip he brought his friend to a standstill, letting him speak. “Tell me.”

“You believe in a _make-believe_ relationship _._ ” Kageyama smirked as he dropped him. “That’s proof enough."

“My relationship is not make-believe. It is real.” Hinata embraced Tsukishima like they were the closest of couples. Though, upon realizing that Tsukishima was giving him the weirdest sort of look, he pressed his head against his chest, and giggled soft and lightly as he hugged him like he loved him. “This is proof enough that our relationship is real.”

“And that’s why you’re a _dumbass_.” Kageyama facepalmed. “A working relationship isn’t what you think it is!”

“You’re just saying that because you’re jealous, really jealous.”

“What?!” Kageyama narrowed his eyes. “Like I’d ever be jealous about something involving you.”

“It’s not good to lie to your friends or to yourself.” Hinata chuckled knowingly. “Every time I bring him up, you look at me with a stinky looking scowl. Every time I tell you he’s drawing me in a special sort of way, you look at me with eyes green and full of envy.”

“My eyes aren’t green _dumbass_ , they’re black!”

“It was a figure of speech.”

“I don’t care idiot, what I do care about is correcting you when you’re wrong.” Kageyama huffed as he stepped up to him placing a finger right against his back. “I am in no way envious about you or your relationship. I don’t want him and I don’t need him. I have all that I need.”

“You have all that you need?” Hinata snorted. “I hope you don’t mean that volleyball of yours.”

“Wha-” Kageyama stumbled backwards.

“Oh, I know all about your little _crush_ Kageyama.” Hinata’s eyes flashed mischief. “How you drew those cute tufts of hair, pretty little eyes, and gorgeous little lips on that new volleyball you just got.”

“It’s not what you think, it isn’t!” Kageyama’s eyes darted to everywhere but him as he walked backwards right snab into the door and rattling it. He fished around for the handle as he explained himself. “It was something I picked up from a book, a way to better improve my connection with the volleyball! You know, breaking it in.”

“A book? Since when you have ever picked up a book, let alone read one?” Hinata’s eyes clouded with skepticism. “I know you love volleyball and all, but even reading a book on it is a stretch.”

“It isn’t, it isn’t!” Kageyama’s eyes darted everywhere.

Hinata shook his head and laughed. “Fine, if isn’t then tell me, did that book tell you to whisper sweet nothings into your volleyball’s _ears_ before you sleep at night? Did it tell you to put it in your little bag and wrap it in towels and what not as if you were giving it its own special little seat during practice and games? Did it tell you to set it on the table at lunch and dinner and talk to it?”

Kageyama paled as if his deepest and darkest secret had been revealed. Unwilling to confront anymore interrogation, he finally grasped the handle, and fled the scene.

Gone, Hinata expressed his gladness with an enthused hug that finally pulled Tsukishima back to the studio.

“Kid will you get off of me already, you’re hot, and sweaty, and smelly!” Tsukishima really wanted to hold his breath as the smell of the gym, ready to be washed jersey, and body odor wafted into his nose. It was suffocating. “Please, _shortstuff_ , I hate hot, sweaty, and smelly! I hate it a lot.”

Hinata’s grip didn’t slacken or tighten as he remained where he stood.

“I said move it already, move it _squirt_ , move it!” Tsukishima groaned as he couldn’t even use his hands to push him away. “Hinata- _senpai_ Please, I don’t want to smell like sweat for the rest of the day!”

“Tsukki.” Hinata’s voice was muffled against his shirt. The slight hint of anticipation and giddiness was unmistakable, enough so that Tsukishima put his efforts to get _shortstuff_ off of him on hold.

“What?”

“Do you really think I’m, uhm. Do you really think I-I-I-I’m uhm h-h- _haught_ -haut.” Hinata squirmed as his voice grew faint and his words came rushed. “I can’t say it. I can’t say it.”

“Just say it, spit it out, or whatever.” Tsukishima grumbled and shimmied a little. “Just say it already so you can let me go.”

“But if I say it, you’ll think I’m weird or something.” Hinata spoke as if it was a fate worse than death. “You’ll think I'm-”

“A dork.” Tsukishima cheesed. “I already think you’re weird, really, really weird, like a dorky alien straight outta Roswell.”

“Dorky alien!?” Hinata took it to heart and acted as if the floor had come right from under him. “A dorky alien, you literally think I'm a dorky alien.”

An answer wasn’t forthcoming as Tsukishima stood there doing his best to muffle his laughter but failing as the look of abject horror Hinata gave him was utterly stupendous. Seeing how seriously he took his joke and hearing how crushed he was from it was the final straw as he cackled blatantly and loudly. Only a _kid_ like his _senpai_ would not only believe something insane like that but look as if it’d rocked his world from the core. Any sympathy and regret he might have from that look simply evaporated as Hinata's expression dimmed and dulled. How he nibbled his lips, averted his gaze, and looked ready to crumble only intensified Tsukishima's laughter. Perhaps this laughter was a switch as color, life, and happiness returned to his _senpai_ 's features. Tsukishima, watery eyes and all, missed how Hinata stared at him as if he was not only the apple in his eye but the pie in his oven. As if ecstatic and joyful feelings exploded in his heart, Hinata embraced Tsukishima and giggled bringing him down from his high.

“Dorky alien _sempai_.” Tsukishima eyed him teasingly. “Dorky alien _senpai_.”

“Stop it.”

“Then let me go dorky alien _senpai_.”

“I like _squirt_ or _kid_ better.”

“You like kid- _senpai_?”

“It’s not mean.”

“But dorky alien-”

“It is mean and offensive to all aliens.” Hinata stated with the innocence of a child that befriended his alien toys.

“Fine dorky kid _senpai_.”

“Stop it you big meanie.” Hinata finally let him go, bashing his chest playfully as he puffed up his cheeks. “S’not funny, mean jerkishima- _kun._ ”

" _Senpai_." That feigned look of anger only made Tsukishima's smile grow. "You look way too cute to say something oh so mean.”

Garbled sounds of something were muffled as Hinata plunged himself into Tsukishima chest.

Tsukishima snickered before he assumed a sugary and syrupy tone as he pinched one of Hinata' cheeks. “Arent you just the cutest little thing _senpai_? Awwww. You just make me wanna pinch your liddle widdle cheeks and tell you how cute you are. Dawwwwwww.”

Ears going pink, face flushing, temperature soaring, and garbled sounds intensified, Hinata was a squirming mess as Tsukishima teased him to no end. He struggled to gain any sort of composure as Tsukishima laughed it up as if he was having the gayest of a time. And he was, his laughter single-handedly filled the room giving it a sort of warmth and happiness that not only calmed his spirits but Hinata's as well. It was much different than when he entered the room and much different than when they met each other a week or so ago. Maybe Hinata realized this or not but he embraced him before he sighed and looked at him with a smile Tsukishima could only say was affectionate and perhaps friendly.

That word emerged from his lips.

“Of course were friends.” Hinata beamed as he let him go. “We are in a relationship.”

Tsukishima missed what he said as he realized he'd made a friend, an honest to goodness one that expected nothing but happiness and joy from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is fully written, think i'm halfway there with this story, thanks for being on this ride


	6. Thank you Tsukki, Thank you!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima didn't know why he asked a question about the kid's major, he honestly didn't, but now he realized, he'd taken things to a place he never expected. A part of him, though, didn't seem to care. This was something he needed, and perhaps wanted.

Tsukishima wore a light smile as he watched Hinata hovering over his sketchpad. As much as he would have pushed him away, changed the page, and sputtered something critical and condescending, he held his tongue and remained rooted to the spot. It was nice to have someone so genuinely interested in his work that they were captivated and spellbound by it.

That nice feeling was enhanced by the beautiful sight before him. Hinata was barefooted with knee pads draped around his ankles seemingly bringing attention to how toned his lower leg was, but also, oddly, making his short little feet look cute, even with his toes crinkled a bit and flexed as if they were little outlets for how happy he felt. The last remnants of sweat trailed down his calves and thighs bringing Tsukishima's attention upwards.

Both of these muscles and how firm, toned, and simply attractive they looked were accentuated and emphasized by the very short mesh shorts he wore. Compression shorts beneath, black cloth, extended a tad bit past his mesh shorts. The shorts and compression short combo was contrasted with the orange and black Jersey set he wore. Arms and elbows were fully exposed as was his collarbone all bearing some remnants of sweat. It added an attractive glistening to his skin that made it radiate and sparkle each and every time the _squirt_ did as little as breathe and move. This sparkling and radiance was reflected in his eyes and face that glowed with something Tsukishima couldn't quite name.

Interested in what this _something_ was, he found himself in front him, kneeling, and memorizing those eyes, that nose, those cheeks, and those lips, each looking so soft, warm, and fond. Seconds or minutes passed before those plush looking cheeks grew a little pink and a little farther away.

“What're you doing?" Hinata put some distance between them. 

“Just studying you.” Tsukishima answered quite simply and frankly.

“Studying me?” Hinata shook his head. "You're not studying me, you're looking at me like I'm your lo-lo-lo-I can't say!"

“Of course, I'm studying you _dorky-alien senpai_ , how else am I to find which distant planet you came from.”

“You can't figure that out! Alien's don't exist!" Hinata blurted. "And even if they did, I'm not an alien and I'm not dorky.”

“Really?” Tsukishima stared with the widest of eyes. "The kid that bounces about trying to catch popcorn in his mouth isn't dorky? Couldda fooled me."

“I was doing that to cheer you up you jerk, not because I wanted too!” Hinata puffed up his cheeks and looked at him as angry as he ever could. "See if I ever do something like that for you ever again."

“But you do it all the time, _you dork._ ” Tsukishima spoke in the most teasing way he could. He didn’t miss how Hinata blushed like he always did whenever he was called one of the many nicknames Tsukishima gave him. “What brings you here anyway? Were all the big kids teasing little ole kid- _senpai_?”

“No!” Hinata crossed his arms. “And I'm not the kid here. You are, especially with how you look.”

“How I look?”

“You look like you just got out of bed or something. No socks, pajama pants with that kiddie print...and that co-co- I mean k-k-kiddie shirt.” Tsukishima quirked an eye and snorted as he listened to Hinata struggle to try to sound demeaning and critical but flub it up to the point that his interest and awe was blatant and obvious. “What's so funny?”

Tsukishima stifled his giggle. "Lemme guess, your pajamas have volleyballs on them, don't they?”

“Heck yeah they do!" Hinata's eyes twinkled with pride. "They're so cool like not as cool as yours but still…wait you tricked me!” He bounced about like a feisty puppy.

Tsukushima chuckled.

“Tsukishima!”

“All art kids are like this _senpai_ , we draw whenever the _whims of creativity_ call.” He gestured towards the door where the occasionally frazzled art student yawned as they strolled by. “Would have been in my room sleeping or something but those two annoying beasts seemed to want to do their usual _mating ritual_ in the middle of the night so that's how I ended up here looking like this. Trust me, I'd be the last to look like a slacker.”

“No wonder Bokuto was late to practice.” Hinata grinned and nodded. A look of pride and was that envy or jealousy flashed in his eyes for a moment or two. Gone just as soon as it appeared, he was back to his usual happy-go-lucky self. “Though I get what you’re saying. I barely write in my apartment since writing always comes to me when I'm out and about on campus. The bench under the weeping willows by the pond is one of my favorite spots as is the amphitheater in the forest. The moon hits it in just the right spot at night making all the stones sparkle and shine. Laying down on one of the stone benches and staring into that blanket full of its sparkling twinkling stars and planets and picturing myself far, far away is so inspiring.”

Tsukishima stared impressed at the _kid_ for being such a romantic. “What do you write anyway? Kiddie stuff filled with toys and spaceships?”

“What! No!? Why would you think that?”

“Cause, you still play with toys like a little kid.”

“I don’t! You just had those dinosaur toys and I couldn't help myself. If you hadn't ignored me then-" 

"What? You need your babysitter to play with you?" Tsukishima brought a hand to his mouth and cooed. "Aw, _kid-senpai_ was feeling a little lonely and needy, next time."

Hinata scowled and looked ready to retort, but Tsukishima was already speaking. “Just kidding _twerp_. Seriously, what do you write?”

“Whatever I get assigned?” Hinata scratched his head as he calmed down a little. His hand glistened with sweat. “Don’t know what you mean?”

“I mean outside of essays and whatever else you write about in your classes. You do write in your free time, right? All creative writers aspire to be novelists so tell me what are you writing about when you escape all of this? Its practice for something bigger than an assignment, right?”

“It is and it isn't.” Hinata lowered his gaze to his feet. He wiggled his toes about. “But its just, you know, whatever, not worth mentioning.”

“Really? The guy who was all up in what I draw wants to be coy and bashful?”

“I don’t! I don't.” Hinata met his gaze before breaking it. “Its just everyone laughs at me when I tell them what I write about. Its kind of why I cant write in my apartment. Kageyama is kind of a nosy bas-er-meanie.”

“Senpai.” Tsukishima grabbed his hand, squeezing it. “It shouldn't matter what he or anyone else thinks about your writing. It's yours and yours alone and what you put on paper, it's all from your heart and your mind and your soul. Don’t be ashamed of it, be proud of it.”

Hinata continued to look at his feet as he wiped his eyes and sniffled. It left Tsukishima retreating to the depths of his mind. For someone who was three years his senior, he was surprised and awed that he could be so self-conscious, sensitive, and secretive about his writing. Though, on second-thought, Tsukishima couldn't blame him, he was just like him when it came to being closed-off and conscientious about drawing all those dinosaurs that he loved. Apart from Kuroo, Bokuto, and Hinata no one in the entire university knew he drew them. Still, even if he was closed-off about it, having just a few people take delight in his work and express genuine interest did feel good. So he was sure Hinata deserved to feel such a way too. The _kid_ literally looked like he thrived off of sunshine, flowers, smiles, and positivity.

“So you gonna tell me or will I have to bug that _jerkoff_ to tell me what you write? I'm sure he would be glad to tell me.” Tsukishima jerked the poor _senpai_ ’s hands upwards earning himself a groan and a tearful glare.

“How do you say something inspiring like you just did then say something jerky right after?”

“Just teasing,” Tsukishima ruffled Hinata’s hair endearingly even as his arms were batted away. “You don’t have to tell me but if and when you do, trust me, I won't laugh. It isn't like my dinosaurs are all that acceptable.”

“How?" Hinata dropped his hands as he eyed him with confusion and disbelief. "You draw them so well that they might as well be in an art museum or something.”

Tsukishima found himself at a loss of words. Hearing him say something like that with the most serious of faces. Unreal.

“I'm not just saying it cause its polite or something. Your drawings are really good, so good that they could really win the Spring Art Contest." Hinata bounced about as he grabbed Tsukishima's hand and swung it about. He cared little that he made the tall lanky teen sway about and about. "Oh you should enter a drawing! You really should I just know you'll win.”

“I couldn’t!" Tsukishima ripped his arm out of Hinata's grip. "The last time I did everyone laughed at me.”

“No way.”

“Yes way.” He would never enter another contest. He'd sworn off them and had done his best to avoid each and every one his teachers' recommendations for contests to enter. The few he had to do, he _half-assed_ them and did some lame flower arrangement or _uninspired_ abstract painting. "I'm not about to be the laughing-stock of the first year art department. I can't."

“Trust me Tsukki, you won't be a laughing-stock. People here love this type of stuff.”

“You mean _you_.”

“No, no, no. Really. Look it up later. People make some really cool stuff. It's unbelievable how creative you artists always are.”

As much as Tsukishima didn’t want to believe him, he couldn't say his encouragement as well as his effort to push the issue wasn’t persuading. “Is it just artwork or?”

“It's everything creative." Hinata nodded. "Sculptures, ceramics, food, lots and lots of food, but also computer drawings, regular drawings, music, writing-”

“So you entered?”

“Never. I couldn’t.”

“Not once in three years?”

“What would I look like submitting some story about boys falling in love with each other as they adventure through space and time, wait.” Hinata quickly placed both his hands over his mouth and backed away until he was at the wall. He eyed Tsukishima and tore his glance away. “Forget what you heard, forget it, forget it. I didn’t. I was only joking. Joking.”

“Hinata- _senpai._ ”

“I was, I was joking, just joking, I wouldn’t write something like that, silly, you know, just silly.”

“Hinata- _senpai_.” Tsukishima approached calmly and steadily. Bewildered thoughts ran in his head as he wondered what the kid was on about. There wasn’t anything remotely wrong or funny about his idea. Honestly, it was fresher than some of the other stories he’d read.

“Believe me, it was just as zany in my head as it was in my mouth.” Hinata shimmied against the wall and moved towards the door. Though he soon found a hand planted right against his ear, and the tall, looming, sunshine presence in his life in front of him. He _eeeked_ like a little mouse and tried to shimmy the other way, but Tsukishima’s hand was there too. He cowered as he was pinned, trapped, by the giant. He flinched and averted his gaze. “I didn’t. I was joking, joking, joking.”

“ _Senpai_ , we've been together long enough that I know when you’re joking and not.” Tsukishima bopped him on the head shutting up his nonsense. “And that was not you joking.”

“You know?” Hinata stopped cowering and stared. The faintest of blushes was on his cheeks.

“Of course, I know, I’m an artist and artists notice these details.” Tsukishima grinned. “You said it yourself yesterday.”

"You remembered?" A smile slowly spread across Hinata’s face as he wrapped Tsukishima in a hug and giggled. "You remembered what I said." 

“Now that you’re back to your usual dorky kiddie self, tell me, why would you take back what you said?”

“Because, it’s dumb-" _bop_

“Try again.”

“Because, its stup-" _bop_

“Again.”

“Because, its dorky-"

“True," Tsukishima said as he kept his hand hovering over the shorter male's head. A look of relief spread across Hinata's features, but he soon found himself wincing as he was bopped again. "Try again.”

“Stop it why don't you, I was just joking!” Hinata waved his fist around.

“Seriously, _senpai_ , your story is something I would read and plenty others would too. We’re tired of space dramas and operas about angsty teenage boys pining over dramatic heroine number 1337. Having an angsty teen being in love with another boy he comes across as he travels the stars is refreshing, and with such a kiddie-ahem-youthful and creative mind such as yourself, I’m sure it would be anything but dumb, stupid, or dorky.” Tsukishima went in for a bop before he simply ruffled his hair and smiled genuinely and authentically. “Believe in yourself senpai and believe in your work, as long as you’re happy with whatever you wrote or made then others will be too. Sure, it won’t appeal to everyone but it will appeal to some-oof-”Hinata nuzzled his head against him as he sniffled.

As tears slowly soaked his shirt, Tsukishima ruffled his _senpai_ ’s hair and wrapped an arm around him. “What’re you crying for Hinata _senpai_? I'm just saying what needed to be said. It’s nothing to cry over.”

“It is something to cry over, it is.” Hinata stilled as he clutched a fistful of Tsukishima's shirt. “No one’s ever said anything like that to me before.” Hinata nodded against his chest. “No one. Not even Kageyama, Atsumu, or Kenma. Not even Natsu or mom. Not even my teachers. No one Tsukki. No one but you,” he croaked as he tightened his hold while he sobbed.

Tsukishima was at a severe loss of words as he rubbed Hinata's back. The guy who radiated sunshine and could make flowers bloom wherever he walked actually had people who dared to dim and trample upon everything he had to share with the world? Sure the kid was aggravating, annoying, and pesky but he was also friendly, creative, and encouraging. He deserved everything that he gave and then some.

“Hey chin up _kid,_ chin up.”

Hinata didn’t oblige as he remained a wretched and tearful mess.

“Kid chin up now.”

Hinata continued to cry.

“Kid.”

“I'm not a-"

“You’re crying like one. Aren't you supposed to be my role model, kid- _senpai_?”

Hinata sniffled long and hard before he looked up meeting him with a wavering glare.

Tsukishima pet him like a little kid. “Good boy _senpai_. Wanna treat for that, hm?”

“Stop talking to me-"

“Will it make you feel better if we talked about it?” Tsukishima didn’t know what he was thinking or saying but he knew he had to say it. He couldn’t leave the kid like this. He couldn’t let the kid keep bottling his feelings, emotions, and thoughts in. He needed to let them out lest his motivation and fervor to write be extinguished.

“If you ever have anything you want to talk about regarding your writing then feel free to talk to me, in person or otherwise. If you need my advice then I promise to be as honest as I always am. If you need someone to listen to you talk your usual nonsense then I promise to sit and listen. If you need someone to sit with you and keep you company when you write then fine, my room is always open, these rooms are sometimes open, and a few other spots are sometimes open.”

Hinata's grip slackened. “What are you, no, why?”

Tsukishima had no clue why he was doing this, honestly he didn’t. This was only supposed to be a working relationship where he contracted the kid's help then sent him on his way never to see him again until when next they met. To get this involved with him all because he was just like him, well it was much more than he anticipated or even expected.

He scratched his head and looked away sure as heck knowing he couldn’t go back on his word especially since his heart wouldn’t let him. He couldn’t let someone so bright remain so dim.

“Tsukki?” Hinata had fully let him go and grabbed his hand clenching it softly.

Tsukishima squeezed it back and eyed him pleasantly. He smiled. “Because kid, I want you to go back to being the kid that you are and not the crybaby that you aren’t.”

Hinata yanked his hand downwards sending him stumbling.

“Brat what'd you do that for I answered your question.”

“Cause you were being a big ole jerk.” Hinata's frown was clearly feigned as he suddenly smiled. “You could have just said what you meant, you know. I can _read between the lines_.”

Tsukishima sputtered something or another and looked away as Hinata cheesed and giggled.

Knocking on the door brought both students turning to the door in unison. Kageyama stood there scowling as he pointed to his wristwatch.

“King of sourpusses here to fetch you or something?”

“Yeah, practice about to start.” Hinata tightened his hold. “I wanna st-no, I'll go. Text you later okay?”

“Kay.”

Hinata finally let him go and reached the door. He just about opened it before he was back and hugging Tsukishima. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

Before Tsukishima could respond Hinata was back at the door exiting it and dodging a jab from Kageyama. They just about left before Hinata looked through the window and smiled in that way that Tsukishima wished he could capture on paper. So breathtaking, he was left there standing silent and motionless, hoping just hoping he'd see it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tidy up the first half sometime, back half, love it so much, some of my favorite parts to write in this.
> 
> Thanks for reading


	7. Lingering Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima didn't understand why Hinata was always on his mind.

In between drawing a set of building blocks haphazardly placed in front of a light, slightly angled, Tsukishima looked outside the studio window and stared with anticipation. Unlike earlier, bright orange unruly hair, honey hazel eyes, tiny waving hands, and a smile as bright as the sun were absent. In their place were art students yawning and rubbing their eyes as they made their way to one of the many art studios.

Since Hinata’s departure mere hours earlier, Tsukishima found himself falling into a routine where he would take an occasional break and gaze out the window almost expectantly. Something within him wanted to see that _kid_ stroll on by again, knock on the door, and race into the studio to distract him with his usual foolishness. As much as the _kid_ bordered on being pesky and annoying there was something about him that made him not only tolerable but enjoyable. Even now, Tsukishima couldn’t help but smile as he remembered how Hinata's eyes twinkled as he looked at his sketch. As if wanting to capture that look on paper, he flipped to a clean page in his sketchbook and grabbed a pencil.

* * *

Tsukishima found himself growing distracted as he did his usual hand exercises in the shower. Relaxing not only his slightly aching hands but also his body, it was easy to let his mind meander from dinosaurs roaming the earth to knuckleheaded pests that loved to pester him to no end. Even now he kept an eye peeled for a certain roommate of his that loved to annoy him when he least expected it. He'd had one too many bucket of ice water thrown on him to not be on guard.

Still, as that warm gentle stream flowed across his aching back, a sign of the productive drawing session he had that day, he closed his eyes and moaned. It felt so good.

As the moment lasted, he didn’t mind dropping his guard as he enjoyed the moment for all it was worth. His fruity scented body wash, of strawberry and oranges, only relaxed him further.

Such fruit reminded him of the reason why he poured his all into his drawings that day. That orange haired _brat_ had weaseled his way into his head and remained there as if he owned the place. Treating him like an idea that just wouldn’t go away, Tsukishima drew him, giving him a place to stay, permanently.

Head cleared, he now wondered why the _kid_ was on his mind so much lately. Someone so _bratty_ , _insufferable,_ and _irritating_ had no right to be there especially when he was half-a-step away from calling the whole thing off. Though, now that he thought about it, there was something attracting, magnetizing, and beguiling about him that he set that decision aside.

What that something was left him turning the shower off, donning his towel, and hastily walking into his room where his roommate stood breathing heavily and leafing through a textbook.

While Tsukishima thought his behavior was peculiar, he ignored him as he put his glasses on and stared at his sketchbook oddly flipped open to the page that he wanted to see the most. On it, the _kid_ grinned at him as he did earlier that day.

Though it was a picture-perfect copy of Hinata’s expression, it was lacking a certain something that left Tsukishima groaning, frowning, and wondering why in the world he felt nothing from it. He was supposed to feel the same things he felt whenever the _kid_ looked at him as such. He was supposed to hear the same giggle he heard when the _kid_ looked at him as such. He was supposed to think the same things he thought when the _kid_ looked at him as such. So why, why was this copy doing nothing for him?

Closing the sketchbook, he wondered if he needed to look at the kid and scrutinize him in a way that would let him figure out what he missed in recreating his expression on paper. Thinking as such, he grabbed his cell phone and just about demanded that he come over right now, but as he noticed the time, he reconsidered it. The _kid_ probably went to bed early.

Setting that idea aside, he flopped backwards onto his bed and stared at the ceiling wondering why oh why was drawing the _kid_ the greatest challenge he'd ever faced.

* * *

Tsukishima stirred as random jeers and teases filled the air. Paired with an occasional grunt and groan it was impossible for him to fall back asleep. Not that he could if he wanted to as how bright the sun was at it shined right onto his face left him throwing his hands up and shielding his eyes from it.

“You’re mighty loud this morning.” The sound of hand slapping hand and leg kicking leg though, left him turning over, looking as best he could at the room’s occupants. “No practice or something?”

“ _Bruh_ practice has long been over.” Though Bokuto readily answered, he didn’t continue as he yelped. “Dang it, that was sneaky,” he said moments later.

“Not my fault you got distracted,” Kuroo mocked as he so often did when they wrestled in the morning.

“Wouldn’t get distracted if you paid attention to your roomie.”

“You’re the one that plays _bruh_ , not me.” Kuroo must have slapped him on the chest as a loud thud reverberated through the room.

“And you’re the photographer whose always there.” That sound was replicated as Bokuto did the same.

“Just because I’m there doesn’t mean I’m always on duty.”

“Really?” Bokuto’s voice was laced with skepticism.

“ _Bruh_.” Kuroo smirked, probably. “You know I only show up as much as I do because of you.”

“ _Kuroo-kun_.” Bokuto sounded as happy as a lark as he probably tackled him.

“ _Bokuto-senpai._ ”

Considering how they started kissing, Tsukishima might have left the room, but their conversation gave him an idea, no, not just an idea but a remedy to the situation that plagued him last night.

“Uhm Bokuto- _senpai_?” Tsukishima looked at him but then didn’t as he gave them the privacy they needed. “I don’t mean to interrupt but when exactly is the next game?”

“Hmmm?” How Kuroo hummed in that teasing way of his left Tsukishima wondering if he’d opened _Pandora’s Box_. “What brought this up all of a sudden?”

Near naked and sweaty he and his boyfriend looked literally and figuratively hot, distractingly so that Tsukishima cursed himself for even looking his way. A thought of his _senpai_ , Hinata, looking the same after practice flashed in his mind. He blushed.

“Come on Tsukki.” Kuroo’s whine pulled his attention back to him. “We just wanna know what got you interested in volleyball all of sudden, nothing less, and nothing more, isn’t that right Bokuto?” He playfully slapped his boyfriend’s roaming hands aside.

“It’s just for research.” As Bokuto remained insistent, Tsukishima averted his gaze. “Motion assignment.”

“A motion assignment.” Kuroo smirked as his eyes twinkled with mischief and mayhem. “Does this assignment involve a _senpai_ , specifically a short orange-haired one that you have a crush on.”

“Why the _eff_ would I have a crush on that _pipsqueak?_ ” Tsukishima cared little for appearances as he stared at his roommate unashamedly.

“Bruh, you can be real with me.” Kuroo grinned self-assuredly. “You know I’m the guru of love.”

“I am not in love you jerk.” Tsukishima spoke curtly. “And even if I was, you’d be the last person I turned to for advice.”

“Didn’t say you were.” Kuroo smirked like one of those _pesky nosey_ cats from one of Tsukishima's favorite children books. “But considering how you’re drawing him so much, I just thought you’d have feelings for him, you know?”

“No, I don’t know.” Tsukishima snapped as he wondered what his roommate was even getting at. He knew exactly what Hinata was to him—his subject for the semester, not some love interest. “So just tell me when the _dang_ game is already.”

“Okay, okay, you don’t need to get so snippy.” Kuroo dropped all pretense as he rubbed his boyfriend’s thigh. “Dude, _bruh_ , when’s your next home game? Tsukki wants to hook up with Hinata- _senpai_ afterwards.”

“Wait, what?” Bokuto perked up as if he finally found something more interesting than his boyfriend’s body. “Hinata’s finally gonna get some? Nice.”

“Will you two knock it off!” Tsukishima facepalmed. Why he was friends with any of them was beyond him. “I told you two, it’s nothing of the sort.”

“Who says it can’t be though?” Kuroo insisted with a grin.

“Me, Kuroo, me!”

“Hey, hey, hey.” Bokuto flashed his hands and grinned. “We have a home game this weekend, maybe you can see Hinata then, and maybe we can do something too?”

“Oh wanna?” Kuroo wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Can’t let Tsukki be the only one getting some.”

“Of course, _Bruh,_ wouldn’t have suggested otherwise.”

“Though you better win.” Kuroo dropped his teasing as he squeezed his thigh. “You’re not getting nothing if I have to baby you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Last time I held your hand the whole time and all you wanted to talk about was how off your game you were. If I wasn’t your _bro,_ I would have left you for the night.”

“Wait, _bruh_ you serious?” Bokuto looked genuinely worried. “You’d really leave me for something like that?”

“No.” Kuroo scratched his head and looked aside. “But I’d come close too. I mean, I’d wanna talk about us when I’m with you not about some game.”

“Oh, but we talk about us all the time, like now.” Bokuto growled as he tackled him, pinning him on the bed where he peppered him with kisses.

As they fell to hushed voices and soft moans as they always did in their _mating ritual_ Tsukishima kept them out of sight and out of mind as he got himself together for the day. Though he took a moment to mark his calendar with the date of the game, he kept his mind focused on the remedy for his dilemma—an opportunity to gaze unashamedly at Hinata in his element would help him immensely in his pursuit of perfectly capturing each and everything about the kid on paper. Doing so would finally let him see, hear, and feel the things that he always did when he was around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I'm back, sorry for the delay. 
> 
> Should be updating at a steady pace.

**Author's Note:**

> Said I was going to finish TsukiHina Week 2019 no matter how long it took and here it is, the 2nd to last one. 
> 
> Day 6: University AU 
> 
> story written by one who does science and has no art upbringing ;/


End file.
